The Sign: A Novel

By Monokuro Yun

The Sign is a fantastical story of a world with no visible borderline between good and evil.

In a world where magic is common, people’s destinies are something they can only follow, with no chance of changing them. However, one girl decides that her life is not something others should own. Medani, a young ward of a royal family, runs away from her escort only to meet a half-demon boy named Siris. Together with a shape shifter and a poor pilferer, the outcast princess faces many obstacles in order to finally regain freedom. Along the way, she decides to trust even non-human comrades. However, what she doesn’t know is that all the secrets those strange creatures keep will bring a chain of terrific events that endanger not only the life of the girl but throw the whole world into chaos.

Logical to its core, The Sign explores the logic that holds everything in place. Everything that seems off and every event that seems too convenient takes on a different meaning as readers look a little deeper. Through the characters’ journeys, The Truth is eventually uncovered. But, it’s hard to say whether that Truth is better than the Lies that keep this world together…

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Feb 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9781642791174

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Medani was running with all of her might. Further… further… further away from here. She had only a handful of minutes at most to move away from her escort before the guards noticed her absence. The place where even kings walk on their own feet is the place Medani told the guards she was going, but she knew it was rather too close to the road they were taking for her to be away for such a long time.

Medani loved the forest…and hated it. Sometimes she felt that the forest of Medorey was such a small part of a big world. So small that it was possible to cross it in one, maybe two days at most. Sometimes the forest was a frightening unknown. It was so familiar and clear when she walked a well-trodden trail, yet it was so unclear when she was dashing through the brushwood without knowing where she was running nor what destination she might reach.

Today Medani was facing the latter side of the forest: she did not know where she was going and she did not have a specific place to reach.

Her destination was anywhere other than under the suffocating gaze of the guards.

She felt sure she’d be successful in getting away this time. Her servants didn’t bring the wolf-carriers or dogs, so looking for a lost girl would be impossible in the thick brush. With that knowledge, she had the advantage. She knew she could not just run in a straight line because of the depth of the brush. She zigzagged and took detours. Yet the longer she ran, the more confused she felt.

Am I getting farther away or am I just running in circles? Does this tree look the same as the one I just passed two minutes ago? And this stone… was it here before or wasn’t it? Why, really, why didn’t I just run straight? This way I would know for certain that I was at least far enough from Ars not to catch up. Ah, there’s another similar tree… and one more… this looks exactly the same too… and… and…

…and this she didn’t expect at all. Medani felt like the ground was going out from under her as pebbles slipped under her feet. She left the forest floor and rolled down a hill, landing on top of something that was not particularly soft.

She heard a stream of curse words and something similar to a giggle. The something beneath her wriggled. She realized in embarrassment that her butt was pressing him to the ground.

As fast as she could manage after her fall, Medani jumped to her feet. Although not shy by nature, Medani’s cheeks were bright red, mortified to have fallen butt first onto the head of some unfortunate traveler.

Hesitant to take a look at her victim, Medani directed her glance to his giggling comrade instead. To her surprise, it was not a human, as she had expected. It was a cat-like creature with dark fur and the wings of a butterfly. It had a very long tail with a flame-colored tuft on the tip and an eye of the same flaming red. The other eye was covered with a black eyepatch. Medani didn’t have the slightest idea what sort of being it was. From its unnatural appearance, she was quite sure it was a magical and possibly dangerous creature.

A feeling of horror rose in her chest, threatening to smother her as she held her breath. If this was a magical beast then its companion must also be non-human. Right now he had to be harboring ill-feelings toward her.

Medani mustered her courage and turned to the traveler. He was wearing a dark mantle and was glaring at her with a look that was both angry and calculating. It was as if he couldn’t decide what to do with the girl. He had thrown back the hood of his cape, and Medani could see that he was human. He was dark-haired, tall, and around her age. At most, he was a year or so older than her. Due to the ragged mantle covering the majority of his body, she could see only his muddy dark pants and old boots, but it was enough to tell that he did not belong to nobility. His eyes were sharp and a bit slanted. He eyed her coldly. Medani found herself wondering if she could detect a flickering glimmer of her unwelcome presence inside his reflective blue eyes.

The beast nearby continued to giggle.

Medani, blushing and feeling very uncomfortable, started bowing as she had seen peasants or commoners doing before.

I am sorry! I am very sorry!

The lad looked as if he wanted to say something but just sighed instead and commanded his companion. Let’s go, Nytrio. It’s not like we haven’t met any ham-fisted people before.

They had already distanced themselves in length when Medani realized that her own problem was still unsolved. She needed to find out where this road led, and what she should do.

Hey, um, excuse me! Could you tell me where this road leads… and how far away is it from the Royal Road?

The beast just chuckled in response, but the boy stopped for a minute. He stood still, showing only his back as if he were trying to calculate how worthy she was of a response. Medani imagined that he was also judging whether he should ask for money for the answer. Finally, he answered. The Royal Road you say? Not so far from here. Going straight through the forest, it would take you ten minutes without even rushing.

He was still in the middle of his response, but Medani had already gone pale as she grasped the fact that it was only by mere coincidence that her escort was not standing in front of her at this very moment. She had distanced herself from the meeting point, where Ars was waiting for her, but didn’t deviate from the Royal Road itself. That was bad. Really bad. With the number of men they had looking for her, it wouldn’t take long for them to thoroughly search the small range of the forest, find her standing here and push her into the palanquin, making all of her efforts in vain.

The lad tried to walk away again, but the creature he called Nytrio fluttered his wings and landed on the lad’s shoulder, causing him to pause. It whispered something in his ear while peeking at Medani. It didn’t take long for Medani to remember that she was dressed in crimson robes embroidered with golden strings and adorned with beautiful and very valuable knick-knacks. She looked noble, while these two were merely mercenaries or adventurers. Chills ran down her spine as she considered their intentions. Mercenaries were usually penniless and without conscience, attacking richer travelers at their