Hope ~After Dystopia~ - Chapter 2

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**Worry of the First Spirit** (걱정하다 의 첫 번째 영혼, *Geogjeonghada ui Cheos Beonjjae Yeonghon*) and known in Japanese as **Worry of First Spirit** (シンパイ・ノ・ハジメ・セイシン, *Shinpai no Hajime Seishin*) is the second chapter of Yuhun's Wattpad fan-fiction, *Hope ~After Dystopia~*. It was published on April 12th, 2021, and is the first of seven chapters to be named after a Spirit of the Tree of Language.

It is preceded by chapter 1, and is succeeded by chapter 3.

## Major Events

* The Seven Spirits of the Tree of Language, the major protagonists of Hope ~After Dystopia~, all make their debuts.
* A young girl, seemingly a secret admirer of the Seven Spirits, also makes her debut towards the end of the chapter.
* It is revealed that, a year prior to the events of Hope ~After Dystopia~, the Seven Spirits attempted to drive out the Masked and purge the Tree of Language of its corruption, but failed, and, as mentioned in the first chapter, were driven away from the Tree of Language.
* The First Spirit is, quite true to the title of the chapter, highly concerned about the future of the world and everything in it, the Tree of Language, and her fellow Spirits. The Fourth Spirit also voices her concern, saying that she doesn't want it to look impossible to defeat the Masked; despite their concern, the Seventh Spirit is able to rekindle their hope with some inspiring words.
* Two yellowed pieces of paper float into the Seventh Spirit's hands. One has the quote "Despair is a feeling all must deliver themselves from, not to" on it, and the other has a drawing of the Seventh Spirit together with a girl that the Spirits don't recognise.. The drawing also comes with the inscription "Always be on your side". These two notes leave the Seven Spirits puzzled, because they fear that no one else besides them has any will to fight the Masked.
* The Seven Spirits set out to begin their second attempt to purge the Tree of Language of its corruption and drive out the Masked.
* The chapter ends with the young girl (who is sitting on a tree-swing marking the border between hope (the Seven Spirits) and despair (the Masked), thinking about many things, the two major topics being how she's seeing things in a non-corporeal body due to her body somehow having been absorbed into the Tree of Language and how she toys with hate due to it having little to no effect on her.

## Characters

* Seven Spirits of the Tree of Language
* Nyte (mentioned only)
* The Girl on the Tree-Swing (debut)

## Chapter

[MAJOR SPOILER WARNING]

"What'll we do?"

JiU paced in a circle. The other Spirits- SuA, Siyeon, Handong, Yoohyeon, Dami and Gahyeon- watched her. At least a week ago, after a long year of trying to fight the corruption gripping the Tree of Language, they had fought a long, fierce battle against the Masked and their leaders, but sadly lost to them and were driven away. "I can't believe this is how it'll end. The Masked end up winning, the Tree of Language is still corrupted and we're forced to give in to despair!" she wailed. "I didn't think we would lose to them!"

"None of us did, Minji." Yoohyeon put a hand on her shoulder. "We also didn't know that they've got much more on their side. They outnumbered us so much that no matter how many of the Masked we defeated, there were always more surging forward."

"What do we do now?" Handong sighed. "I don't want to give up. I don't want to believe that it'll all end with us either dead or despairing. I don't want it to seem so hopeless."

"It won't seem so hopeless, Dongie. We don't give up. We'll keep moving forward!"

The voice was Gahyeon's. The youngest of the Seven Spirits stared at JiU. "Minji, have you forgotten? We're the Seven Spirits of the Tree of Language! We will never give in to despair, even when all seems lost! We will fight 'till it's over, and love triumphs over hate and despair! We will never let the hate win!"

Gahyeon's words seemed to rekindle a spark of hope in the other Spirits.

Siyeon straightened herself. "Gahyeon's right. We may have lost to Nyte and the Masked. But we will win the war against hatred! We will never back down!"

"But how?" SuA stared at her sword. "The Tree and its core is corrupted, and the Masked have been guarding it, making sure we don't try to fix it."

JiU finally spoke once again. "We must slowly get to the Tree, but stay alert. Fight only if we run into any of the Masked."

The others nodded. "But there are way more of them than there are of us," Yoohyeon fretted.

"That doesn't mean our strength is no match for theirs." Dami spoke for the first time. "Let's keep fighting the hate and despair-"

They all stopped when a yellowed sheet of paper floated down from the sky, landing in Gahyeon's hands.

"It's got a note on it!" Gahyeon exclaimed. The other Spirits gathered around Gahyeon as she read out the note, written in intricate lettering:

*Despair is a feeling all must deliver themselves from, not to.*

"Who could've written it?" SuA wondered. At that moment, another piece of paper floated into Gahyeon's hands again. It had a drawing of Gahyeon and someone in a white and red costume, with a caption saying:

*Always be on your side.*

"Who's writing these?" JiU was curious. "I highly doubt there could be anyone out there that has the will to challenge Nyte and the Masked, beside us. Nyte has put fear in everyone else's minds. But I have a feeling someone may have been able to resist."

"Let's go and take down the Masked!" Gahyeon put out her hand and the others put their hands on top.

"Seven Spirits forever! Out to make sure love triumphs over despair and hate!" they all chanted, as they grabbed their weapons and set out to challenge Nyte and the Masked once more. As they did, Gahyeon's mind slightly whirled. *Who gave me this note and drawing, and where could they possibly be?*Trying not to think about it too much, the young Spirit tucked the note and drawing into her pocket.

*Somewhere far away...*

*I am on the border between the ones I secretly hold dear-the Seven Spirits of the Tree of Language-and the Masked. Only hate has me in its sights. The Spirits have yet to see me in person. But perhaps I can send a vision to one of them.*

A girl sat on the tree-swing, with all her weapons and supplies next to her. She had black hair, red at the end, and was wearing a beautiful costume, white with red markings. One of her deadliest weapons was rested in her lap-a set of very sharp claw rings, of the same colour of her costume. She put each one on, and examined her hands.

*The claws are nice and sharp. Good for running a hater through on the spot should they cross my path...if I feel like it. Perfect weapons for fighting hate, along with words that counter heartless actions.*

But the one thing that concerned the girl the most was what happened to the Seven Spirits-she had watched them get beaten by the Masked, and driven away. *What happened to them? The Masked spared their lives, but where are they? I hope they got the note and the drawing of me and Gahyeon. I want them to stay strong against despair and drive the hatred away. I hope they don't give up. I don't want them to die, or give in to despair. After all, as I wrote in the note, despair is a feeling that all must deliver themselves from, not to.*

The girl sighed. She knew she was seeing things in a non-corporeal body-she could tell, because her shadow was visibly lighter than usual. Her body was in the very place the Seven Spirits were trying to protect and purge of the corruption that gripped it: the Tree of Language itself.

*I wonder how my body got trapped **within** the Tree of Language...it must have something to do with how I blacked out after seeing the Tree get corrupted. I know it does. I hope they can purify the Tree and drive all this hate and despair away...*

*But I want to do something to help the Seven Spirits. Even if it means I have to sacrifice myself. I won't just stand idly by while the Spirits are being driven back by the Masked! I will find a way to help them. After all, I am the secret follower of theirs, and I want to send them a message of hope.*

The girl curled up on the tree-swing, and before she fell asleep, she had one final thought.

*I want to fight by their side, and defend the Tree of Language with them. I hope I can meet them one day...if the Masked don't ruin the world and plunge it into eternal despair. But as long as I and the Seven Spirits are alive, we will never let this ruthless hatred and heartless despair win-I will do what I can to defeat the Masked.*

*Hatred and its life-crushing words have pierced me for many years of my life, but they cannot make me despair, or crush my spirit. Instead, I fight back, slowly or quickly, aggressive or not-for me, violence should only be used as a last resort.*

*Because haters and the ones who spread hate are my play-dolls. I toy with them as if their malicious words couldn't do anything to me, and when I get sick of toying with them...*

*I pick them up, throw them in the toybox, lock them up, and their mouths shut forever, never to speak heartless evil ever again.*

## Trivia

* This is the first of many chapters of Hope ~After Dystopia~ to be over 1,000 words long. It is 1,220 words long.