The yawning sun cast a long shadow across a glistening lake. A warm sense of familiarity washed over Junwoo as packed soil crunched under his feet.
"This is it," Junwoo spoke softly, fur fluffed up from the cold breeze.
The map materialised in Kaelsu's hands. Unfolding the long mass of paper, a shining icon caught Kaelsu's eye.
He gasped, mouth hanging open and mentally slapping himself. "Wait, how did you–" He stuttered and backtracked. "How did I miss that?"
Junwoo nodded. "There was a small bit on the map that was still uncovered. You probably assumed it was all lake, but actually there should be some treasure here."
A small claw tapped on his lip. "That's… all I could do for you, sorry." He paused with a shaky exhale and a small shake of his head. "This lake is familiar to me. But I don't know where to go from here."
Kaelsu was still in awe. He'd been trying to complete this map and find the treasure for months. Heat burned his ears and crawled up the back of his neck. Hands rubbed his face, muffling what could only sound like a prayer for the ground to swallow him.
"Don't worry about it," he assured anxiously and rubbed the hot spot on the back of his neck. "I completely missed it. You know, last week I was standing on the edge of that cliff over there. But it was foggy and I couldn't see past the lake."
"So you missed it."
"So I missed it."
Junwoo let out a giggle, earning daggers from his master. "S-sorry," he apologised and straightened up.
A wave of guilt crashed into Kaelsu and he softened his gaze, raising both hands as if trying to reach Junwoo.
"Wait, no don't apologise." The summoner flashed a beaming grin and chuckled back. "I'm an idiot."
It wasn't the first time he noticed Junwoo flinching at his actions. Even eye contact was a struggle with him now.
"Can you…dig?" Kaelsu asked hesitantly, almost regretting his choice of words.
"Dig?"
"Like with your claws?"
Junwoo held up his hands and they both stared at his knifelike claws.
After reciting a quick incantation, his staff turned into a shovel. "It would be a lot quicker if you could start digging."
"You can't summon up another shovel?"
Kaelsu slung his shovel over his shoulder and shrugged. He hummed and paused for a moment, scrolling through his inventory, his spells, but only bad news for the fox. "Sorry, I don't think I can."
A sigh in response.
The short scrape of slim steel striking earth signalled the start of their real quest as metal sunk into the ground. Junwoo dithered for a moment, then lightly tapped the ground with his sharp nails. Thoughts raced through his head as suddenly his claws extended and lit on fire, immediately melting the dirt beneath them.
It wasn't long before Junwoo had created numerous large holes in the double digits while Kaelsu hadn't finished his first. The once beautiful scenery had turned into a scarred battlefield until one of them finally struck gold.
"Kaelsu, I think I found something," Junwoo mentioned, astonished by the blinding golden light from an object just barely protruding out of the ground. Junwoo retracted his claws to their normal length and extinguished the flickering flames.
Junwoo's eyes burned, his hands trembled and he found himself drawn to the hole to release the treasure of its captivity.
Kaelsu jogged across to Junwoo, dodging each hole as he passed. "Oh shit, no way is that the treasure?"
Metal scraped against dirt as Junwoo wrestled a box free. The weight of it bent his arms, his shoulders trembling as he lifted it with a sharp breath. The metal box coruscated under the beam of its own golden light.
Kaelsu's hands met the end of the box and heaved – it popped out of the ground with a satisfying clunk and landed between both bodies.
They stood with wonder catching their expressions. Dust rose in a slow spiral from the chest, catching the sunlight like flecks of gold.
Junwoo took an anxious step backwards and lowered his head. His hands interlocked together. A strange chill rolled off the box despite the breeze brushing his fur. It wasn't just treasure; it felt like something watching him back.
A padlock dropped to the ground and disintegrated; the summoner effortlessly broke the lock on the chest.
Silence was thick in the tense air, only disturbed by the creaks and crackles of the chest opening.
Until he spoke.
"Echoes of Memories," Kaelsu mumbled to himself but spoke up, "pretty earrings."
Held within his hands, Junwoo could barely see the aforementioned earrings. Only a slim sparkle of silver and a flash of blue from what he assumed was the gemstone in the basket of the jewellery.
He stood on his toes, trying to get a peak at the item that caught Kaelsu's eyes.
"Great work today, Junwoo," he beamed at the smaller boy. Junwoo flinched, he still wasn't used to being called by that name. For some reason, it didn't sit right with him, but he allowed it. After all, it is him, right?
"Thanks… so what is it?"
Junwoo leaned to the side, his curious gaze caught.
"It's… an accessory. I'll need to get it appraised first and see if I can bump up its stats. The description is vague."
"Let me see," Junwoo's tone was more of a query than a command. Golden fur pressed against Kaelsu's armour and a hand reached up.
Kaelsu smiled, it was actually cute. The way his ears were pointing down and away from each other, how his eyes pleaded in contrast to just how serious that little pout was on his lips. He decided to equip it onto Junwoo, the silver earrings disappeared and reappeared in a rapid flicker.
However, as soon as they clipped on, Junwoo froze.
A sharp pulse surged through his veins too hot and too sudden. The world tilted, his breath catching as if someone had pressed a hand over his chest. The lake, the air, even Kaelsu's face began to blur.
The car.
The phone.
The horn.
The lights, blinding and endless.
It all hit him at once. The scream of rubber and panic tore through his mind, flooding him with memories he hadn't known he'd lost. That night, the crash, the feeling of weightlessness before a rush of pain that he never had the chance to register in the moment.
He staggered, breath hitching, as the world around him fractured beneath the weight of remembrance.
Junwoo clamped his hands over his ears, eyes wide and trembling. His glare snapped up to Kaelsu.
"You don't need to worry about me anymore."
His words were simple, direct, yet they still confused Kaelsu. The words came out sharper than he meant, flat but shaking at the edges.
Kaelsu chuckled awkwardly. "What do you mean?" Head tilted and a supportive hand met the fox's shoulder.
"I think… I think I'm…" Alarm rose to his throat, hyperventilating now. "I'm dead."