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emotionallychargedtowel · 5 months

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The psychological paradoxes of Utsukushii Kare, part 1: Covert grandiosity and finding status through idealization

I’ve had some thoughts about Utsukushii Kare bouncing around in my head since the end of season 2. I started to post about them back then but my first attempts stalled out. Maybe the ideas involved were too complex, or I just needed to let them marinate a bit longer. I tried to give up on getting them on “paper,” but they just wouldn’t leave me alone. Eventually I returned to them and everything clicked. This is part one of my attempt to get those ideas down. After a ridiculous amount of tinkering, it seems like the right time to let it see the light of day. Subsequent posts are in different stages of readiness as well.

I wouldn’t have finished this without copious encouragement and feedback from @lurkingshan and specific edits from @wen-kexing-apologist. A kind comment from @nieves-de-sugui was a shot in the arm. And I’m always indebted to @porridgefeast for support, encouragement, and cute animal content.

I’ve written a lot about this series in the past; refer to my Utsukare master post for a continuously updated list. This includes some related posts on pursuer/distancer dynamics and attachment style in the series that have some overlap with what I’m discussing here, but this post should also stand on its own quite well.

A few things to note at the outset:

My focus here is on the series (both seasons), but I will refer to the movie, the novel, and a couple of vignettes when they illustrate points that are consistent with and relevant to the series.

My approach in this series of posts involves viewing fictional characters the way I would if they were real people--a bit like if I were to do a case conceptualization of a potential client. This isn’t always the approach I use, or the best one, but I thought it was a good fit for what I wanted to discuss here.

Quotes will be cited, but general information on sources will be given at the end of the post.

Now, to get down to business.

* * * * * * *

I’ve seen a lot of commentary from other Utsukare fans about Hira and Kiyoi and how much their self-worth–and the lack thereof–impacts their relationship. It’s a clear theme and lots of folks have had salient insights about it. But one thing I haven’t seen in any of the posts I’ve read is a full acknowledgement of the duality at play there–the way that both characters sometimes believe, or at least fear, that they’re irredeemably awful and at the same time believe, or perhaps hope, that they are better than everyone else.

I’m sure someone reading this is thinking, “Kiyoi is like that, sure. But Hira? Thinking he’s superior? Come on.” I get that it isn’t always apparent. In a genre that loves to portray profoundly smitten, devoted characters, Hira stands out as intensely, even excessively, whipped. But yes, Hira totally sees himself as superior to others in some important ways. Even before Noguchi Hiromi took his inventory about this so mercilessly, there were plenty of other signs.

covert grandiosity and idealization

Our introduction to Hira is his description of the “pyramid” social structure he experiences at school and how he’s at the lowest level of that pyramid (invisible at best, a visible target at worst). At first glance, this seems self-deprecating. But Hira is just describing where he falls in the structure, not endorsing the structure or his place in it. This sets up an important distinction that comes up continually in Hira’s thinking. Sometimes he really thinks badly of himself. But other times, he’s reporting how, in his view at least, others think of him. Sometimes he’s resigned to the ways others see him, but other times, he rebels against them. He doesn’t always make it clear which of these things he’s doing at a given time, but if you know what to look for it starts to be easier to pick out.

Mind you, it’s still very clear that there are ways in which Hira does view himself extremely negatively. His belief that he’s unworthy of Kiyoi is particularly strong. It inspires a lot of demeaning metaphors about himself, like calling himself a “pebble.” His belief in his unworthiness is linked to the belief that Kiyoi can’t possibly return his feelings or that if he does, it’s a bizarre miracle that can’t possibly last over the long term. The most remarkable thing about this belief is its incredible persistence, even in the face of example after example of evidence that Kiyoi loves and values him too and wants them to stay together. But denigrating himself in this context has a different meaning from what it would in others, as I'll get into in more detail shortly.

It’s a pretty universal human tendency to pay more attention to information that confirms our biases than information that challenges them. We’re also hard-wired to be more attentive to perceived threats (including threats to our sense of self-worth) than we are to less threatening things (and ideas). Both of these tendencies contribute to the fact that most of us fail to notice when our negative beliefs are being disproven.

I’ll be discussing this in more depth in part 2, but for now, I’ll just say that resistance to disproving a negative belief is very normal, but Hira’s stubbornness is way beyond what’s typical. He continually misinterprets or simply ignores clear signs of Kiyoi’s interest in and regard for him. I mean, most of us, no matter how poor our self-esteem is, no matter how jaded and pessimistic we are, would, if kissed by someone we’re in love with, at least entertain the possibility that they might like us a little bit. Not only does Hira not consider this possibility, he comes up with the rather bizarre interpretation that the graduation day kiss was Kiyoi’s way of telling him to leave him alone.

So, why would anyone be as stubbornly negative on this point as Hira is? Part of it is the strength of his negative beliefs and the degree of his bias. But there’s another reason as well, one I’m going to circle back to in a moment.

First, let’s look at Noguchi’s assessment of Hira in season 2, episode 4, which is very pertinent here. Talking about Hira’s submission to the Young Photographica contest, Noguchi says:

It was such a childish photo. You should've just chosen an empty place rather than erasing people. Going out of your way to [erase] people made it very clear that you hate this world. What I felt from your photo was tremendous selfishness and disgust. You haven't succeeded at all, but you think you're amazing. But instead of showing it outright, you make a shell by belittling yourself. You look down on this world with youth, stupidity, and ambiguity….You're just like the old me.

(dialogue from Viki subtitles)

It’s a little bit of a stretch, I think, to suggest that Noguchi can really tell all of this just by looking at a single photo (or even Hira’s entire portfolio). I think this partly happens just for the convenience of the story. But if I had to justify it, I’d say Noguchi has this much insight because, as he says, he used to be like Hira, making this a “takes one to know one” situation.

Hira confirms that Noguchi is correct here. “It’s like he sees right through me,” he thinks. So how do we reconcile this with Hira’s apparent negative self-image? Well, first off, it’s not unusual at all for very negative and excessively positive beliefs about the self to coexist in the same person. Take narcissism for example. People tend to think of narcissists as grandiose, thinking they’re amazing and special to a degree that’s clearly distorted. And that is one of the key symptoms of narcissism. But it’s also typical for narcissists to believe that if they aren’t remarkably special, they’re totally worthless. They have a hard time sitting with moderate (hence realistic) beliefs about themselves.

This kind of narcissistic tendency is really strong in people with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, but it’s present in a milder version in a lot of people (I suspect it’s present in most people, to some extent and under certain circumstances). Narcissistic personality traits are supposed to be linked to getting stuck at a developmental stage that ideally gets worked through during childhood. But a lot of us have at least a little bit of unfinished business from that period. I think Hira has a ton of unresolved stuff in this area. I definitely don’t think he would meet criteria for NPD. But I think that when he was in that developmental stage, he came up with some maladaptive strategies that helped him to get through it. As a result, he didn’t get stuck in the full-blown grandiose version of NPD, but he did get stuck with those maladaptive strategies, and they became a part of his personality instead. And he did retain 1) some of that highly polarized idea of self-worth (“I’m either the best ever or complete garbage”) and 2) some degree of belief in his superiority to others, no matter how shameful he finds it or how carefully he conceals it.

It’s also worth noting here that adolescents aren’t typically supposed to be diagnosed with personality disorders and even diagnosing young adults is often discouraged. This is because adolescence and early adulthood are times of intense change and development and the natural process of maturing can cause personality disorder symptoms to resolve even without mental health treatment. So that’s yet another reason to be wary of labeling Hira with any such diagnosis. This points to a major theme of the show, which is the fact that the central characters are works in progress. They aren’t fully formed adults yet, and that gives them a chance to improve themselves before they become set in their ways.

Getting back to Noguchi’s points: Hira is pretty misanthropic, although it’s often shown in pretty subtle ways in the show. This aspect of Hira is more noticeable in the novel. For one thing, the novel establishes early on that the erasing-people-from-photos thing isn’t some new or isolated phenomenon. Rather, the main thing Hira does with his camera at the beginning of the story is to intentionally take photos of populated areas and then carefully photoshopping out all of the people. And it’s explicitly because he dislikes, even hates, most of humanity. This tendency still comes through in the series. Sometimes it’s obvious–remember those mass shooting fantasies?--and other times, it’s more subtle. We know that this aspect of the character is definitely still present in the series version of Hira since he confirms what Noguchi says about how his photo shows “selfishness and disgust.” He really is disgusted by many of the people around him.

making a shell - perfectionism and covert grandiosity

What about the part of Noguchi’s spiel where he says that Hira “make[s] a shell by belittling [himself]?” It took me some thinking to realize what (in my view) he meant by that.

This actually syncs up really well with something Noguchi says about Hira in Utsukushii Kare: Eternal. It’s illuminating enough that I’m making an exception here to confining myself to the time period of the series.

In this scene, Kiyoi is scheduled to be photographed by Noguchi on a day that Hira isn’t present at his studio. He asks about Hira and he and Noguchi talk about him briefly. Hearing that Kiyoi was Hira’s high school classmate, Noguchi talks about how weird and confining high school is, a terrible “environment for growth.” He says that doesn’t apply to Hira, though, because he’s “a king in sheep’s clothing.” This catches Kiyoi’s attention. “I was just thinking that you understand him really well,” he tells Noguchi. “I do,” Noguchi replies. “Although he looks timid and weak, he’s actually really strong.”

As Noguchi continues, his comments become more metaphorical and get harder to understand. (I suspect that the metaphors he uses might be idiomatic or otherwise intelligible to a Japanese audience in a way that’s difficult to get across in translation.) The gist is that he sees Hira as “strong-minded,” but that “in his heart” he has a kind of “sanctuary” that he protects from others, and that this could end up either holding Hira back or being something he can use to get somewhere in life. I’m not sure what to make of the sanctuary part, but it’s clear that Noguchi understands that Hira has thoughts and emotions that he doesn’t share with anyone, and that his image as a “sheep” who is “timid and weak” masks an unseen strength and determination, along with a more king-like attitude toward the world than he typically shows to others.

Time for a quick psychological theory sidebar, this time on perfectionism.

Some researchers who study perfectionism have identified a type they call “narcissistic perfectionism.” Narcissistic perfectionists think that they are, or need to be, perfect, and they expect others to be the same way, thinking about them in highly negative ways if they don’t measure up. If you read about this idea, most of the examples given to illustrate it are people who have achieved a lot in their lives, who can point to big accomplishments. But perfectionism doesn’t always result in achievements. Sometimes it keeps people stuck in a mindset that anything but perfection is pointless, making them reluctant to really try to do anything at all. If you’re a perfectionist who has a need to believe you’re special, that you would achieve big things if you tried, actually trying means taking a risk that you’ll find out that when you try, the results aren’t actually perfect and amazing.

According to narcissistic thinking, this would mean that you’re worthless, because the options are either being the best or being complete garbage. Again, I think it’s an overstatement and an oversimplification to call Hira a narcissist, but he has unresolved self-worth baggage that takes a somewhat narcissistic shape. In this way, he shows a kind of perfectionism that seems clearly underpinned by his self-worth issues. Instead of fueling achievements, this perfectionism keeps him stuck, inactive, too afraid to attempt what he thinks he might be able to do while clinging to a fantasy of what he could do if he ever got un-stuck and really tried.

That’s usually a secret. Remember when Hira didn’t make it through the first cut of the contest? He thought, “Even though I always deny it out loud, I did think photography was the one thing I can do. It felt like I was being ripped apart for being conceited" (dialogue from a fansub by @lollipopsub). The fact that he would "deny it out loud" is notable. I also think that he’s still not being entirely candid. If he thought “photography was the one thing [he] can do,” that wouldn’t exactly be “conceited”--it would actually be quite modest (about photography) and harshly self-critical (about everything else). I think deep down he has thoughts that are truly conceited, thoughts that he’s not just competent when it comes to photography, but “amazing,” as Noguchi puts it. Once again, Hira confirms everything Noguchi said with his “he sees right through me” reaction, so he agrees with this assessment.

This conceited side of Hira is never supposed to see the light of day. This is the main reason he’s so intensely embarrassed when Noguchi understands him so well, I think. It’s what Noguchi is talking about when he says that Hira “make[s] a shell by belittling [him]self.” Acting as if he’s the lowest of the low is a defense. It does correspond to the part of himself that fears, at times even believes, that he’s worthless. But it’s also a way of hiding his grandiose side. This is a way of protecting himself from the reaction others would have if they could see how highly he thinks of himself despite not having made enough effort to accomplish the sorts of things he thinks he’s capable of. It’s also a way of protecting himself from his own awareness of his shortcomings and pretensions.

There’s another type of perfectionism researchers have identified, called “covert perfectionism,” in which the person’s outward expectations of others are low and they don’t show their perfectionistic traits outwardly very much, if at all. They’re supposed to be more likely than some types to get trapped in the kind of stuckness I mentioned earlier, in which perfectionism prevents the person from making a real effort at things they would like to do well. In some important ways, Hira’s perfectionism resembles this type as well. You could say that his type of perfectionism has definite narcissistic attributes, but he hides it well enough that it is also covert.

A number of different articles on perfectionism that I looked at cited the same Brene Brown quote about it, from her book The Gifts of Imperfection. I think it’s very salient here. She writes:

Perfectionism is a self-destructive and addictive belief system that fuels this primary thought: If I look perfect, and do everything perfectly, I can avoid or minimize the painful feelings of shame, judgment, and blame.

This is very characteristic of Hira. He doesn’t expect to “look perfect” in most respects (he’s more likely to simply try to go unnoticed). But he is obsessed with avoiding those painful emotions. He has spent his entire life being shamed and judged and living in fear of it happening still more. He’s very strategic and has given a lot of thought to how best to avoid being shamed. In fact, these efforts seem to be part of the reason he is such an avid observer of the social structures around him–learning about those structures is a survival skill for him.

idealization and affiliation: borrowing status

In addition to factoring in his covert grandiosity, I think there’s something else to account for when looking closely at Hira’s apparent self-hatred. Hira’s self-critical tendencies can appear inflated if we lump examples that pertain to his relationship with Kiyoi in with other cases. They should actually be looked at separately, because their meanings are distinctly different. Again, I don’t contest that Hira has a low opinion of himself in a lot of respects. But I think when we step back and look at many of the biggest examples of what appears to be a negative view of himself, a lot of them are focused on where he stands in relation to Kiyoi. That’s not the same thing as his value as a person. And placing himself in a certain role in relation to Kiyoi has a specific kind of meaning for him, along with a specific kind of payoff.

Here comes another theoretical interlude. This time, I’m going to briefly touch on Heinz Kohut’s idea of the need for idealization.

Kohut was the originator of a school of thought called self psychology, a branch of psychoanalysis that underpins a lot of contemporary psychoanalytic/psychodynamic theory and practice. He was also an expert on narcissism and basically saw variations and degrees of narcissism as central to a lot of psychological challenges. (There’s some reason to believe Kohut may himself have had narcissistic personality disorder, which would have made him intimately familiar with its inner workings.)

Kohut’s self psychology departed from Freud’s whole psychosexual development model (basically, everyone’s least favorite aspect of Freudianism—the part with all the penis envy and Oedipal stuff and so forth). In its place, self psychology focuses on how we see ourselves, what our needs are in terms of self-image, and other matters that are very relevant to this discussion. One of Kohut’s most important insights was his observation that even when other people have a big impact on our psychological state, what we’re interacting with isn’t so much the other person themselves but our internalized idea of that person. Kohut called internalized versions of people and things from our external world “selfobjects.” (I’ll be circling back to this momentarily.)

One of Kohut’s most central concepts is idealization. In Kohut’s version of idealization, a person views someone else as basically perfect, maybe even omnipotent. The idealized person becomes a special kind of selfobject. In the best case scenario, the person doing the idealizing has some kind of real, personal connection to the idealized person. But even a mental connection to them via their status as a selfobject can meet a need in some ways.

By feeling connected to, or even just affiliated with, the idealized person, the idealizer feels like they take on some degree of the qualities they see in the idealized person. It’s not hard to see how this tendency would date back to childhood. Children have a particular need to idealize their parents at certain stages in their development. Thinking of their parents as strong, capable, in control, wise, calm, etc. gives children a sense of safety and a sort of borrowed self-esteem.

Once you’ve idealized someone, you feel a real need to continue to see them as special and powerful. Again, childrens’ views of their parents are a good example here. One reason children often blame themselves when they are neglected or abused is because they have a strong need to continue to view their parents favorably. Without that favorable view of their parent, their world would seem chaotic and dangerous. Blaming themselves often seems safer. Here, maintaining the high status of the idealized person is so important that it’s a bigger priority than preserving self-worth.

I bet you can guess where I’m going with this. Yep, Hira idealizes Kiyoi in the Kohutian sense of the word. There are a number of facets of this. Part of it involves viewing Kiyoi as basically perfect–outstanding in every way. Even when Hira sees Kiyoi as cruel, he seems to view this as an ideal attribute for someone like Kiyoi.

Hira not only states that he thinks of Kiyoi as “like a God" in season 1, episode 6, he frequently expects Kiyoi to have god-like qualities and abilities. In one of Nagira Yuu's shorter pieces about Hira and Kiyoi that's told from Hira's perspective, he's explicit about this. "Kiyoi's existence is already in a much higher dimension than human beings," he thinks. "Is he the successful fusion of deity and human? That is the big question" ("Wonderful World," as translated by @sparkling-rain). At points during the series, he expects Kiyoi to have a superhuman degree of freedom to do anything he wishes and to know things that would require him to read Hira's mind. He really does treat him as if he’s practically omnipotent.

Hira's idealization of Kiyoi has a number of implications. One is that Hira misunderstands the social structure at his school. He views Kiyoi as the unquestioned king and doesn’t see that in many ways, Kiyoi makes choices about how to behave in school out of a desire to stay on the good side of bullies like Shirota. This fundamental misunderstanding in turn makes it impossible for Hira to notice or understand all the ways Kiyoi tries to protect him at school. If Kiyoi were really at the peak of the school hierarchy, if he wanted to be nice to Hira, he would just do it. But because he has to maintain a certain image in order to keep himself safe, he has to help Hira in covert ways. For example, when Kiyoi admonishes Yoshida not to order Hira around or use his demeaning, ableist nickname, he makes it seem like he just wants Hira to be at his beck and call, which wouldn’t be possible if he were occupied doing tasks for others. But if that were the case, why would he object to Yoshida using the nickname? For that matter, why doesn’t Kiyoi ever use the nickname himself? (He says it aloud in his exchange with Yoshida, but he never actually uses it to address Hira.) If Hira weren’t so invested in the idea of Kiyoi’s supreme power, he might have noticed these disparities between his narrative and reality within the story.

In season 2, the fact that Hira is both someone who has a relationship with Kiyoi and at the same time is a fan of Kiyoi as a performer points out another aspect of idealization. While I’ve never seen Kohut’s concept of idealization applied to fandom, I think there’s at least a variation of it at play when we feel comforted by, or as if we gain status from, being a fan of a person (or a group, piece of media, etc.) that we see as special or powerful. When we get excited because the sports team we root for does well or our favorite actor wins an award or is in a movie or show that does well, I think we’re experiencing a kind of gratification based on a selfobject that we feel is ideal in some way. Our status as fans gives us an affiliation that feels similar to a real connection. (Parasocial relationships are related to this as well–something that’s likely to resonate with those of us who participate in BL fandom, where examples of parasocial relationships abound.)

So both as a fan and as a classmate, then a (sort of) friend, then a boyfriend, Hira gets a great deal of satisfaction and happiness from idealizing Kiyoi and feeling like he has a kind of tie to him. This is completely interwoven with the love he feels for Kiyoi in the beginning. But it also makes it very difficult for him to acknowledge the ways in which Kiyoi doesn’t actually resemble his initial, idealized selfobject of him. Kiyoi isn’t omnipotent. He was never actually the most powerful person in their high school class. In many ways, he’s actually a better person than his selfobject version. Although Kiyoi isn’t the nicest person ever, he’s not nearly as cruel as the cold, imperious figure Hira paints him as.

Sometimes Hira chooses this selfobject over Kiyoi the human being, and Kiyoi knows it. In season 1, episode 4, when Hira starts to get close to Kiyoi but then backs off, protesting that he’s just a “servant” and Kiyoi is his “king,” Kiyoi responds by telling him (in the Viki subtitle translation), “I don’t care if you chase your ideal of me, but leave the real me alone.” This dynamic, of course, is a huge theme in their relationship that continues all the way to the end of season 2 and beyond.

Those are some of the ways in which Hira insists on maintaining his idealized selfobject of Kiyoi. But there’s another way he clings to this idealization, which I think is harder to see at first: in order for Kiyoi to be elevated, Hira has to be beneath him. This is actually one of the most paradoxical parts of this paradoxical structure, because in Hira’s view, he has to be beneath Kiyoi in order for Kiyoi to be exalted, but by exalting Kiyoi, Hira’s status is raised. It sounds strange at first, but it’s not a new idea. The notion of humbly dedicating oneself to someone or something that you uphold as an ideal sounds like an act of self-abnegation, but in the minds of those who take on such a role, by affiliating themselves with this perfect person or thing, some of the magical aura of that perfection rubs off on them.

It’s a bit like members of the clergy in the past (in a Christian/European context), who were known to humble themselves completely, taking vows of poverty, depriving themselves in various ways, even mortifying their flesh. Through these humbling acts, these people were seen by themselves and others as closer to God than an ordinary person, potentially as a channel to God–even as someone who could actually speak for God. By humbling themselves and exalting their ideal, they became something greater than they would ever have been capable of being on their own. Hira’s approach is remarkably similar. In keeping with his description of Kiyoi as a kind of god, he talks about wanting to be a “nun.” (As I understand it, he’s describing a role more like that of a shrine maiden in Shintoism than a nun in any Christian tradition, but there’s enough similarity in those roles to justify the translation.) Basically, if you make your ideal person perfect enough, then even being their servant gives you a lot of status, especially if you’re their most devoted, indispensable servant.

I’m reminded of a passage from the novel here. In the novel version of the story, Kiyoi visits Hira at his new home. A different situation than the one in the series has led to him living alone for the first time, and as in the series, Kiyoi uses his need for a rehearsal space as an excuse to visit Hira there. The situation is somewhat different from the series, but similar in essentials. Hira and Kiyoi have a conversation that leads to an exchange that is equivalent to the conversation that takes place right after the finger incident in the series. In the novel, this scene is portrayed from Kiyoi’s point of view; anything in italics is his internal dialogue. (The ellipsis below is mine.)

‘What am I to you?’

‘The person I love most in the word.’

It was this firm response that gave Kiyoi courage.

‘Then, do you want to date me?’

Kiyoi felt his face burning. Just say yes. If you do, I’ll be able to be honest too. Kiyoi’s heart was pounding as he waited for Hira’s answer, but the answer he got was something that he hadn’t expected.

‘I don’t want to.’

Kiyoi blinked.

‘Why?’

…

‘Because you’re the king.’

‘Huh?’

Kiyoi’s eyes blinked even faster than before.

‘I mean…Kiyoi is like a king, and I’m merely an ordinary person who serves the king; it’s not like I do it out of obligation, but in my mind, I view myself as Captain Duck…Ah, by Captain Duck, I’m referring to a yellow toy in the shape of a duck that children play with in swimming pools or bathtubs, you know?’

–I know, but what does that have to do with it?

Not caring about Kiyoi, who wanted to ask something, Hira continued to explain about the duck. He kept babbling on and on about how Captain Duck once used to float in the sewage and was now proudly floating down a golden river as a prestigious toy of the king, and it was very satisfied with its current life.

(from this section of White Lotus’s novel translation)

Hira is explicit here about the servant/king relationship he envisions for himself and Kiyoi. But the rubber duck imagery is even more telling. Being a cheap toy, an inanimate object of so little value that it’s almost disposable, is more than enough for Hira as long as he can be associated with Kiyoi–if he can be ‘a prestigious toy of the king.’ Just belonging to Kiyoi, even (or especially?) as an insignificant object, equates to ‘proudly floating down a golden river.’ Again, placing Kiyoi in an exalted position and then abasing himself (while maintaining a link to Kiyoi) is Hira’s way of using idealization to achieve a paradoxical kind of status.

The conflict over Hira’s unrelenting idealization of Kiyoi comes to a head in season 2 when Hira fails to understand why his comment about Kiyoi and his parents having “nothing to do with one another” was hurtful.

Kiyoi: Do you not get how I feel right now?

Hira: I don’t!

Kiyoi: Think about it! If you don’t get it, think! [tapping Hira on the head]

Hira: Sorry.

Kiyoi: I don’t want you to apologize.

Hira: But…you’re mad at me.

Kiyoi: It’s always like this. I get mad, and you take the blame. But in reality you just don’t get it!

Hira: No, I don’t! The stars in the sky and the ones watching them will never align!

Kiyoi: What does space have to do with it?!

Hira: Because you and I are completely different! We’re in different dimensions and on different paths. That’s why stars shine so brightly! If I try to touch it or to understand it, all I’ll do is pull the star down to my level! So what I’m saying is…in reality…I don’t…want to understand you.

(dialogue translated by @lollipopsub)

Hira makes this dynamic very explicit here. It’s not just that he thinks Kiyoi is superior and his role is to serve him. He’s determined to actively resist interacting with Kiyoi on an even playing field. It’s particularly clear when he says, “If I try to touch it or to understand it, all I’ll do is pull the star down to my level.” Seeing things from Kiyoi’s point of view or touching him–metaphorically, and in some ways literally–would “pull [Kiyoi] down to [Hira’s] level.” Instead of raising Hira’s status, this would degrade Kiyoi’s. The distance between Kiyoi and Hira–the lack of understanding and meaningful contact–is (from Hira’s perspective) a feature, not a bug. It’s integral to the gratification Hira experiences when he watches Kiyoi as if he were a star–something both beautiful and trillions of miles away.

One sign of the importance Hira places on Kiyoi’s exalted social status is how irritated, even livid, he gets when other people don’t recognize and behave in accordance with his views on the social hierarchy and where they stand in relation to Kiyoi.

For example, when Shirota and his friends make shitty comments about Kiyoi after he doesn’t win the contest, they’re obviously being assholes. But what bothers Hira most is that they are acting as if Kiyoi failing to win a highly competitive national contest means he’s beneath them, when in fact, it’s unlikely any of them would have qualified as contestants, much less made it to the finals like Kiyoi did. To Hira, it’s their lack of understanding of their place in the hierarchy, their lack of recognition that Kiyoi is above them, that is most damning. Which is legitimately infuriating–they’re being incredibly arrogant. But personally, I think it’s clearly more important that they’re being critical and dismissive of someone they claim is their friend right when he has just gone through something very disappointing. That’s not a big concern for Hira, though. In addition to deriving a kind of status from his association with Kiyoi, he also finds some satisfaction in knowing that while his status in relation to Kiyoi is low, at least he can correctly gauge where he stands, unlike others.

And he seems to relish not only correctly assessing his place in the world but also maintaining a particularly lowly role. This isn’t inherent to idealization, though as I’ll talk about further, this combination of factors isn’t unique to Hira by any stretch. I mentioned that Hira’s perfectionism, among other things, is a way of attempting to, as Brene Brown put it, “avoid or minimize the painful feelings of shame, judgment, and blame.” Hira does have some grandiose beliefs about himself, but he also views himself as inferior in many ways. This tension creates the stuckness that often comes with perfectionism, and this blocks Hira from attaining goals that would fuel a more healthy kind of self-esteem. Gaining status through his association with an idealized version of Kiyoi gets around all of these problems.

Hira also seems to view his grandiose thoughts as a sort of jinx, a way of tempting fate. Think back again to his thoughts when he found out that he hadn’t made the first cut in the Young Photographica contest. “It felt like I was being ripped apart for being conceited.” In Hira’s world, having grandiose thoughts–or at least, buying into them–brings punishment. It’s better, and safer, to embrace total abjection. This is one more reason why it seems safest to put Kiyoi on a pedestal while placing himself in the most inferior position possible. At least, this seems safest until Hira realizes he could lose Kiyoi entirely if he doesn’t stop this destructive pattern.

When Hira does finally try to make a shift in how he relates to Kiyoi at the end of season 2, the big gesture he makes toward “look[ing] at [Kiyoi] straight on” is setting, then communicating, the goal of photographing Kiyoi in the role of professional photographer. This is a very appropriate way for him to make this move. Viewing Kiyoi more as an equal means having to relinquish some part of the status and self-worth he borrows from his idealized image of Kiyoi; this is the perfect time, then, for him to find some self-worth of his own by finally putting himself out there as a photographer and making a real effort to test his abilities.

That's it for this installment! I hope to get part 2 posted within the next week. Edited to add, four months later: That was a little unrealistic! But I'm determined to finish it off one of these days.

Edited to add:

Adding an edit here as I noticed what seems like a rather glaring omission. I failed to reference a scene that bears out a lot of what I have to say in this post. It happens when Hira is staying with Noguchi in Eternal. They have this exchange over ramen:

Noguchi: I was just like you in the past. All full of myself and thought that everything I saw was boring. I was always angry and all, "You're all worthless and should disappear!" Hira: I don't think we're alike at all, though. Noguchi: Having too much confidence and having too little confidence, they're two sides of the same paper in the sense that they're both signs of a damaged self-consciousness. Anything could make you switch sides at the drop of a hat.

(Emphasis mine.)

Citations for individual quotes are included with their respective quotes. The following sources were used:

When I quoted series dialogue, I used the wording @lollipopsub used in their (sadly no longer accessible in the US) fansub whenever possible. I lost access to this version so these quotes are from my notes.

I also quoted the Viki subs (which are good, just not quite as good as the ones @lollipopsub made) when needed. On one occasion I used the Viki version because it supported my point better.

When I quoted the novel, I quoted a fan translation by White Lotus featured on a site called Chrysanthemum Garden.

I also briefly quoted a short story translated by @sparkling-rain here.

When I quoted Eternal, I quoted a fansub that (at the subber’s request) will remain nameless.

#utsukushii kare #utsukare #utsukushii kare meta #utsukushii kare analysis #utsukushii kare season 1 #utsukushii kare season 2 #utsukushii kare 2 #utsukushii kare eternal #my beautiful man #hira x kiyoi #psychology of bl #self psychology #heinz kohut #selfobject #covert perfectionism #narcissistic perfectionism #psychological paradoxes of utsukushii kare #hira kazunari

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lettersfromaphrodite · 9 months

Text

«flames to dust.»

― pairing : Chris x fem! reader ― content warnings : soulmates au, angst with a happy ending, magic au, medieval settings, implied smut, pay attention to Seungmin and Hyunjin's dynamics, locations and sceneries are inspired from Black Desert Online as always, a few LOTR quotes here and there because of reasons,⚠️mention of violence, mention of death, character death(s) the main pairing is safe, mentions of blood, mention of the skinning tattoo technique, mention of violence, choking (sadly, not in the kinky way!!!)⚠️ ― word count : 43k ― notes : she's back. she's longer. she's a one shot // special thank you to my girlies @stressedfranya and @helav98, this fic wouldn't have existed if not for your support and our continuous brainstorming // Lea's character is inspired from my lovely and beloved @minbiny, aka my wonderful soulmate.

― notes : take a look at the deities! Karanda - Goddess of Air // Garmoth - God of Fire // Vell - God of Water // Offin - Goddess of Earth // Kzarka - God of Rot and Corruption // credits for the deities amazing gifsets and pics: @unikornu

― summary :

The only certainty you had, was that you were running out of time. As fate repeated itself and the pressure of being responsible for the fate of countless people had been placed on your shoulders, would you allow yourself to love and to be loved in return?

PREQUEL 🔮 : «do you believe in fate?»

PROLOGUE

The “Cursed Castle” stood tall at the world’s end: made of lava stone and golden amber, its menacing appearance was enough to make people fear everything about who lived in it and within its increasing territories. Moreover, dark and thick clouds were constantly hovering above the Castle’s territories – almost shielding it from the light of the Sun, therefore making it impossible for even the faintest ray of sunlight to reach over those numerous layers of darkness.

The fallen King had once been a good, adventurous and magnanimous man; as a child of Fire, he had the pleasure to meet both Garmoth – the God of Fire, and his soulmate – a child of Air. Actually, some even said that the King had lived a life full of love, showering both his wife and their daughter with affection, until that love that once filled his everyday routine had been abruptly taken away from him without any notice.

From the moment his wife had passed away because of a strange and incurable illness, the King had gradually withered from the path filled with joy and love he had always walked on, just to venture himself in a mysterious and darker path. Slowly, a mysterious menacing power took hold of both his heart and soul, mutating his elemental powers and therefore, changing the appearance of his once bright red eye – now reduced to a black, void and emotionless orb. Within the years, the sadness of losing his soulmate had turned into an obsession, and with the only goal to tear apart the four Gods one by one, the King started to gather children of Nature under his dominion, succeeding in tainting their conscience and changing the nature of their powers as well. With the help of his seven long-time friends – eventually called the “Seven Generals of the Underworld”, the King had managed to keep the world in check and constantly on the verge of war, becoming a different but bigger threat than the Serendia Shrine ever was.

To the Gods, it was impossible to understand how a single man had managed to generate to create such a dark power completely by himself; no matter how deep their sorrow was, humans were not supposed to generate a brand new kind of magic, let alone corrupt people – almost hypnotizing them, to join their army. At some point, the Gods suspected for their nemesis – the God of Corruption, to have arisen once again, even if the possibilities were highly improbable. Before the world as it was known took shape, an otherworldly battle had taken place – modelling the sea, mountains and the sky into a different shape than the one people were used to see; many Gods fell trying to defeat Kzarka, and only four of them managed to survive, sealing him away with extreme fatigue. Therefore, the four Gods started to suspect that the fallen King had managed to found something he was not supposed to, something related to the battle against the God of Corruption, something that could dangerously increase his natural power while feeding on his desire of revenge.

As for you, the fallen King was probably the man you loved the most. Even if you were constantly trying to ignore the fact that the more time went by, the more he lost his self and his memories to darkness, the faint hope of managing to save both him and your cherished uncles kept burning in your heart, a faint hope that would have soon flared up.

As dejecting as it was, however, you spent years silently watching your father losing his memories the more his power increased, to the point that sometimes he couldn’t recognize you – his own daughter, as well. «I know your face…» he would mumble, lost in thoughts, as his narrowed eyes scrutinised your features; he’d mumble your name few seconds later, a kind and fond smile suddenly growing on his lips and an identical one growing on yours, accompanied by the faint trace of tears forming in your eyes and sorrow enveloping your heart in a tight hold. Although you were a child of Fire, everyone had told you that your resemblance with your mother was uncanny and therefore, sometimes, you wondered if your father had forgotten about your mother as well.

The heels of your leather boot clicked against the marble floor in a rhythmic way, as you were making your way towards a familiar figure standing against the railway of one of the Castle’s wide balconies; you politely greeted him, and he gently tilted his head towards you in a hint of a bow.

«Uncle Seonghwa,» you gently spoke, breaking the temporary and comfortable silence, «could you tell me something about mom and dad, please?» you asked him, as the memories of your parents slowly seemed to be held hostage by a threatening fog, almost preventing you from remembering what you wanted to.

«They loved each other a lot,» Seonghwa answered with a sad smile, «your mother had always been an excellent fighter, she would be proud of you.» he added, and you nodded briefly, a small smile adorning your lips. After that, Seonghwa told you about the adventures he lived with your parents, and you closed your eyes while listening to his words, trying to imagine everything as best as you could.

Unbeknownst to the two of you, someone else was leaning against the doorframe, hiding from your sight; his head was slightly tilted, and his gaze was unfocused, as if he was suddenly remembering everything his long-time friend was telling you.

Someone, no one but the fallen King – Kim Hongjoong.

CHAPTER I

«Wake up, sleepy head,» you acknowledged Wooyoung’s gentle voice with a groan as you shifted in bed, covering your head with the blanket, reluctant to wake up.

«Five more minutes... What time is it?» you mumbled tiredly with your eyes tightly closed, as you felt the bed dip under Wooyoung’s weight.

«It’s hard to tell,» Wooyoung replied, gently removing the blanket from your head as he glanced out of the window; it was almost impossible to keep track of time due to the fact that a thick layer of clouds was constantly preventing anyone from glancing at the sun, «according to Yeosang’s watch, it should be seven in the morning.»

«What in the world do we need to do at seven in the morning?!» you questioned him, rubbing your eyes in the vain attempt to wake up faster. Something in the smile erupting on Wooyoung’s lips was definitely tense, but you were still too asleep to notice that something was different; Wooyoung simply answered that the two of you needed to go shopping, because according to him, you absolutely needed new clothes.

«It’s like talking with your mom all over again,» he replied with a brief giggle as you tried to convince him that the clothes you already owned were more than enough, «hurry up, or I’ll call Jongho.» he eventually said, and as if he spoke some magic words, you immediately sat up in bed, ready to wash up and get dressed, despite your prior complains; being woken up by Jongho meant the whole mattress being flipped – with you still on it, towards the ground as soon as you said you didn’t want to wake up. Of course, Jongho would still be careful and help you up, but for you it had become an unconditional reflex: as soon as you heard either his name or his voice first thing in the morning, any trace of sleep seemed to vanish from your soul in the blink of an eye.

«Hongjoong wants you to have this,» Wooyoung added, placing a velvet box on your bedside table, before walking out of your bedroom.

Both being incredibly curious and both hoping that you father had returned to his old self, you reached out as soon as the wooden door closed behind Wooyoung’s shoulders, and getting a little more comfortable on the bed, you hesitantly opened the small box. A silver earring laid alone on top of a small cushion made of black silk, it was nothing too precious, but it still managed to make your heart swell; a small feather carved in silver hung from a small circle, and you immediately realized that it was the feather attached to the necklace that your mother used to wear everyday, as if it was her second skin.

Although you were incredibly happy about the present, a doubt immediately formed in your heart: since your mother had passed away, Hongjoong had always worn her necklace, so, why was he suddenly gifting it to you? A whirlwind of questions started to form in your head as you washed up and got ready for your date with Wooyoung, and as you headed out of your room, the earring was safely dangling from your left ear.

The citadel extended around the Castle for a few miles, and it had nothing to envy to other cities, not even to the Capital. The marketplace was vast, and – although the dubious morality the people living within the kingdom’s territories had, they were always cheerful and lively. Hongjoong had managed to corrupt an almost unquantifiable number of children of Nature, but even so, not everyone following his lead was corrupted, nor could use elemental magic: those who were organizing the market – or the ones taking care of the commercial matters, were almost always their uncorrupted partners.

It was not uncommon for a husband which couldn’t use elemental magic to follow his wife just because he was worried for her, and vice versa; eventually, those people accepted their fate, and tried to understand the purpose behind Hongjoong’s wicked plans, tying to convince themselves that it was for their own good as well.

Hongjoong’s kingdom stood in a strategic position: dangerous and steep mountains stretched around the citadel to the east, south and west, while a part of dense woodland extended to the north; mighty rivers naturally moulded through the mountains and passed through part of the undisturbed woods. Therefore, not only was the kingdom almost completely impregnable, but it didn’t need any kind of external trade: Hongjoong’s kingdom was completely self-sufficient, and in continuous expansion. Over the years, even clothings had changed significantly: dark colours were the only thing people wore, and leather details or harnesses were used in the most various combinations, whether for aesthetic purposes or strategic ones – it wasn’t rare for daggers to be attached to someone’s thigh. This different and singular fashion became extremely characteristic, to the point that anyone could easily notice when inhabitants of the cursed kingdom ventured into foreign lands.

For the whole morning, Wooyoung seemed a man on a mission: not only he managed to buy a huge quantitative of clothes, but he managed to buy clothes which definitely did not seem to belong to the general aesthetic everyone used to wear. As the two of you were carefully making space in your wardrobe for the things you bought, it didn’t go unnoticed how Wooyoung almost seemed to wanting to hide them into the left corner of the wooden structure; whether you had any doubts about his behaviour, you decided to keep quiet.

Honestly, recently you had noticed a slight change in Seonghwa’s, Wooyoung’s and San’s behaviour; they’d glance worriedly ad each other every now and then, or entertain what seemed a dramatic argument just to immediately change their behaviour as soon as you approached them, clearly tying not to worry you. Although you tried to question them few times, you decided to eventually drop the subject, since it was clear that no one was going to tell you anything about what they were worried about.

«I can’t believe I still look so good,» Wooyoung spoke all of a sudden, catching his reflection of the mirror next to the two of you; instinctively, you scoffed while hiding an amused smile. Time passed extremely slowly, and life expectancy was extremely long, especially for children of Nature. It wasn’t rare to meet people few centuries old; unless one’s life ended by illness or battles, people aged extremely slowly. However, you had to admit that what was happening to Hongjoong and the others was definitely not normal: twenty four years had passed since the day you were born, and nothing had changed in their appearance. Eventually, you convinced yourself that it was yet another consequence of the darkness corrupting their hearts; but still, you silently questioned why it didn’t have any effect on you.

«Stop being so surprised,» you joked, «I bet San makes sure to tell you at least twice a day.» as you sat on your bed once again, you saw a confident smile appearing on Wooyoung’s lips, who was still looking at himself in the mirror.

«At any chance he gets, actually.» he clarified, talking about his beloved husband, and you shook your head; you had to admit, it was refreshing to see them being so in love despite everything happening around you, and once again, you couldn’t help but wonder whether they would one day forget about each other, just like what was happening to your father.

A sudden knock on the door caught your attention, and the door slightly opened only for Mingi to partially lean into the room; there had been a day where Mingi cherished for you and showered you with affection just like how Wooyoung, San and Seonghwa were still doing, but sadly, those days were long gone. Mingi had been one of the first ones to be completely corrupted by Hongjoong’s power, and therefore, his behaviour towards you was strictly formal, going from teaching you how to fight without tripping on your feet, to talking to you only if needed.

«Hongjoong summoned us for a meeting.» he simply said, before quickly closing the door, as if he had never been there in the first place. Still, your heart started to race; you didn’t know what to expect, especially because anytime your father wanted to have a meeting, it was never because he wanted to deliver good news.

Usually, Hongjoong called a meeting just to set up an efficient organization for an upcoming war, which you desperately wanted to prevent, but you didn’t have nor the power, nor the authority to oppose his ideas.

«Yeosang has incredibly good news.» Hongjoong spoke with a satisfied grin, as the nine of you were standing in front of him, who was comfortably sitting on his throne.

Compared to the extravagant and precious furnishings of the Castle, the throne room was large, and almost completely bare of furniture; above three steps was Hongjoong’s throne, made of black obsidian, and four tall, wide marble columns stood around the room. Sometimes, you had the sensation that the room almost seemed too humble to be the silent witness of such atrocious plans and confessions. However, within the throne room was the real treasure of the cursed kingdom, a treasure of immeasurable value; two precious stones of mysterious nature – probably otherworldly, were set against the wall above Hongjoong’s throne. Red as rubies, they shone with a mysterious and frightening light, a light which seemed to become increasingly brighter as Hongjoong’s power steadily grew.

«According to my researches, some people managed to summon the Gods, without being summoned by them and of course, without dying.» Yeosang spoke, and you listened to him, fearing for the worst; you were aware about the fact that beside your parents, Seonghwa and Jongho had met their godly parent as well, but, listening to Yeosang’s words, between summoning a God out of your own will and meeting one because they decided to give you a second chance at life, there was a huge and extremely dangerous difference.

Hongjoong’s plan could be easily guessed: summon the Gods one by one, challenge them and defeat them, whatever it took. The possibility of losing not only your parents but the others as well was starting to make you feel like you were suffocating.

«However, there seem to be no traces of the summoning rituals,» Yeosang added, and you felt like breathing again, «so I’m trying to track those people down: some of them must be still alive.»

«Isn’t it dangerous?» you quietly asked, before feeling both Seonghwa’s and San’s elbows nudging against yours, in a rushed silent warning to not speak any further. Hongjoong tilted his head towards you in a polite yet tense smile, and your gaze naturally locked on the floor.

«Princess, my beloved daughter,» he addressed you with a tense voice, «I think you should be happy, for we are one step closer to get our seeked revenge.» he added, and you were completely aware about the fact that you were testing your luck, but you couldn’t follow the silent hint of keeping your mouth shut; after all, children of Fire were known for acting on their instinct, for better or for worse.

«You want to summon a God just to defeat them, but what if you end up being defeated?» “what if I lose you as well?” you mentally added, but your torn emotions reached blind ears; a thin layer of black smoke seemed to generate from the crimson stones behind him, before materializing around Hongjoong’s right hand, and you realized that he interpreted your words as a tentative of opposing his authority.

However, before Hongjoong’s rational part could even realize the fact that darkness had completely clouded his soul and he was about to attack you with his magic, a thick layer of black and moving sand materialized in front of you, momentarily startling you.

«Hongjoong, calm down.» Jongho quietly spoke, his right hand barely lifted in the air to keep his spell alive, and Hongjoong’s unforgiving eyes locked with his friend’s neutral gaze.

«Go.» Seonghwa told you barely above a whisper, and you took the chance to excuse yourself and head out of the throne room.

Accompanied by the darkness of the night, Seonghwa and Wooyoung bursted completely unannounced into your room; the faint lights of the candles in your room immediately underlined the tense frown on their delicate features as Wooyoung carried an empty leather bag along with him, immediately heading towards your closet.

«Come on, Princess, it’s time to pack.» Seonghwa urged, as his friend was carefully placing few change of clothes in the bag he had placed on a nearby chair, doing his best in trying to act calm and composed although everything in his body screamed that he was in a hurry.

«What? What happened?» you asked them, dumbfounded, as you immediately walked behind the fancy separé few steps from your bed, in order to dress as fast as you could.

Neither Seonghwa nor Wooyoung answered your question, and you grew increasingly worried: were you in danger? Did a war break out without notice? Were there some intruders in the castle? You fastened a dagger against your thigh, before walking towards Wooyoung, which was done packing.

«Hongjoong won’t get any better, little one,» Wooyoung explained, running a hand through his black hair out of frustration, «and neither will we.» you couldn’t do anything but look at him with your eyes as wide as the moon, and he gently squeezed your shoulder with an apologetic smile.

«You do realize that he attacked you because of those stones, right?» Wooyoung questioned, and you nodded without hesitation; of course you had noticed that they were the source of his corruption, after all, he hasn’t been the same since he had found the first one when -

«San is waiting for you, he’ll lead you through the forest.» Seonghwa added, interrupting your thoughts; they both hugged you as tightly as they could, gently kissing your hairline before letting you go. Your emotions were a confused whirlwind of feelings, and you couldn’t pinpoint which one was prevailing; what were you going to do? Why were they sending you away? Would you see them again?

Seonghwa walked back into your bedroom few moments after you were gone, just to find Wooyoung sitting on your bed, his hands on his lap and his gaze locked on them as if they were the most interesting sight in the world.

«I think she has all the rights to know the truth.» Seonghwa mumbled, and Wooyoung simply hummed. «She will,» Wooyoung eventually answered, although his voice was uncertain, «we will find a way to tell her, I promise.» Seonghwa sighed, his footstep leading him to sit next to his long-time friend, «Do you think Changbin will help her?» «Technically, he owes us his life,» Wooyoung immediately answered, hinting to what happened many years earlier at the Serendia Shrine, «but we’re his enemies, now, so…» he drifted off, his words dying on the tip of his tongue, before turning his head towards Seonghwa and completely changing the topic, «How’s it going for you?»

Seonghwa answered with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, while lifting his left hand in mid air and generating a small sphere of water, gesture which made Wooyoung immediately sigh in deject; Seonghwa’s eyes – once turning a bright shade of blue anytime he used magic, were now a threatening shade of black, and the water generating in his hand was as dark as the deepest point of the sea. Seonghwa was about to lose himself to darkness, Wooyoung realized, and without you constantly being around them, it would have probably happened for both him and San as well, sooner than they had originally planned.

San has been guiding you through the forest, paying meticulous attention not to leave any kind of trace behind the two of you; he knew that him, Wooyoung and Seonghwa couldn’t hide the fact that you had escaped for long, but he was determined to buy you as more time as he could. Sometimes, he had to admit that the fact he had been working as an assassin for years definitely came in hand: thanks to his lead, the both of you moved as silent shadows, favored by the natural hiding place provided by the trees.

«This is as far as I can go,» San gently spoke as he spotted your horse behind an oak tree – of course, sent there as a farewell present from Jongho, «Go to Heidel, look for Changbin.»

«Why are you sending me away, did I do something wrong?» you asked, tears suddenly forming in your eyes and panic tightly gripping your heart as you realized that you were about to leave for real; San’s eyes softened, and he immediately reached out to wrap his arms around you in a comforting hug.

«Of course you didn’t, you could never.» he honestly answered, and you felt your throat burn with the desire to stop yourself from trying not to cry.

«What do I do now?» you questioned, with a shaky voice, «I’ve always been with you.» you added, gripping on his cape.

«Keeping yourself out of trouble could be an excellent start, Princess.» even though you could hear a smile in San’s voice, you understood he was reluctant to let you go by the firm hold he still had on you. Truth be told, deep in your heart, you already knew the reason why they were doing this, but you didn’t want to acknowledge the fact that you were about to lose to darkness the people you loved the most.

Eventually, you reluctantly detached yourself from San’s comforting embrace, and he helped you fix your small luggage on your horse, before helping you up on the saddle as well.

«Will I see you again?» sniffling quietly, you questioned him almost timidly, looking at him as you were tightly holding the reigns with shaky hands.

San gave you a small smile, before placing his right hand on his heart, and faintly reach out towards you, in a gesture Hongjoong and the others were used to do whether someone among them were to leave for a journey.

“My heart will be with you, wherever you go.” it meant.

«You will,» San gave you a reassuring smile and you nodded briefly, urging your horse to move forward; he narrowed his eyes, and refused to move until he couldn’t see your shape completely engrossed by the darkness of the night, «will you?» he whispered his question in the void of the night, before making his way back towards the Castle.

The sensation of sunlight on your skin was something you haven’t been feeling in years, and the fact that you couldn’t share this experience with the people you loved was extremely dejecting.

Traveling on your own not only was exhausting, but it was definitely not a pleasant experience; first of all, you had no one to talk to – beside your horse but sadly she couldn’t answer to your rambling, and most importantly, you had to constantly force yourself not to fall asleep anytime you stopped for the night. It definitely wasn’t rare for you to tie the reigns of your horse to a tree and then climb on one of its largest branches just to take a quick nap, and anytime you woke up you were a little more stressed than you were before falling asleep. Accordingly to the map that Wooyoung sneaked in your bag when he was packing your luggage – along to a huge quantity of gold, Heidel was still very far away from were you were; the city was at least two weeks of constant travel from the Cursed Kingdom, and you were determined to reach Changbin’s house as soon as you could, but you couldn’t mistreat your horse.

One week had passed, and you wondered if Hongjoong found out that you had ran away, and how he consequentially reacted; chewing on a small ratio of bread, you scoffed at the naivety of your own thoughts. “He probably forgot about me,” you thought instinctively, your fingertips blindly reaching for your earring while gently moving and twisting the silver feather attached to the small loop; “I wonder if there’s a way to destroy those stones.” you sighed, your thoughts running wild as you were enjoying your lunch while sitting next to a small river.

The fact that you were tired led you to naturally commit a huge mistake; being lost in your thoughts with your shoulders facing the woods meant that you definitely didn’t realize someone sneaking up on you, until a short blade was pressed against your throat.

«I wonder what someone from the cursed kingdom is doing around here.» a boy spat with a harsh tone; judging by his voice, he seemed to be around your age, and a thick accent was accentuating any word he spoke.

Carefully balancing what was remaining of your small loaf of bread between your teeth, you immediately reached out to wrap your hand around the stranger’s bare forearm: your eyes became bright red as you used your powers, burning his skin so that he was forced to either move away or give up his hold on the dagger. However, the stranger proven out to be a little more reckless than you originally planned, because he did let you go, but with a quick movement of his other hand, he had vigorously pushed against your shoulder, consequentially making your back unceremoniously hit the soft grass.

«Were you raised by barbarians?!» you instinctively spat, annoyed with the fact that in the process, the loaf of bread you were eating was now on the floor, «I was eating, you idiot.»

Slightly surprised with the fact that you seemed to be more angry with him interrupting your lunch rather than him threatening to kill you, the stranger momentarily loosened his grip on you, and you took advantage of that faint second in order to quickly counterattack. Long years spent being trained by Hongjoong and the others meant that you were a skilled fighter, even thought no one of them had ever let you go to war. With a quick movement, you managed to roll the two over, so that now you were sitting on his abdomen and tightly holding his wrist, preventing him from using his dagger again.

Something in the stranger’s appearance, however, made you momentarily froze in your place. There was nothing particularly outstanding in his clothes, beside the fact that he seemed to wear a cloak made of fur – which was neatly attached to the fabric on his left shoulder; the boy was undoubtedly handsome, his hair was short and black, and his features were as nice as if they had been sculpted in marble.

However, as if a spell had been casted on you, you couldn’t drift your gaze from his: not only he had huge scar on his left eye – reaching from mid forehead to the middle of his cheek, but his eyes were mismatched. Instinctively, you swallowed nervously: not only his eyes were the obvious proof that the boy had died and been sent back by his godly parent, but, judging by the bright blue color of his left eye, he was a child of Water.

«I can’t believe my fucking luck.» you muttered to yourself, before tightening your grip on the stranger’s wrists before abruptly letting them go; as quickly as you could, you dashed towards your horse, hastily climbing on the saddle.

As for the stranger, you had used once again an old trick that Hongjoong had taught you when you were still young: a thick rope made of fire burned bright around his wrists, and as soon as you saw him effortlessly neutralize your spell summoning water, you realized you had to flee. Fighting with a son of Water meant that you were in obvious disadvantage, especially if fighting near a source of water, but it didn’t mean you could outsmart him, after all, you took alchemy lessons from Yeosang, whose talent was well known and envied in the most important cities; before leaving, you casted a spell on the helm of his dagger, before throwing it towards him, making it purposely land between the two of you.

As you noticed that his blue eye seemed to shine brighter, you realized that he was silently summoning a spell, and therefore you took advantage of the now enchanted dagger; you threw a small sphere made of fire towards it, and as the ground began to burn, you realized that the steel had completely melted. From there, you could control the direction of the fire as you pleased, and a line of flames was burning in front of the stranger, separating the two of you and allowing you to escape.

It was a windy evening when you arrived in Heidel, and although someone glanced at you in a suspicious manner, no one actually had tried to stop you to know your whereabouts; you were walking through the city while gently tugging on the reigns, as your horse followed obediently behind you. Changbin’s and Lea’s house was in the west side of the city, and since you’ve spent a lot of time with them when you were younger, you recognized it immediately; the more steps you took towards it, the more anxious you felt. What if they didn’t want to see you? “There’s only a way to find out.” you took a big breath, before knocking once, twice, three times on the wooden front door.

«I don’t know, I wasn’t expecting anymore people!» you heard Changbin’s muffled voice getting closer, before the door opened just to reveal a very confused Changbin; as if he was struck by lightning, a smile erupted on his lips as recognition danced on his features and mumbled your name, and you nodded with a shy smile. Changbin invited you in, but before closing the front door behind the two of you, he carefully glanced around the streets, just to be sure that no one had followed you.

«Lix, could you get her horse to my stable?» Changbin gently asked to a boy which had walked out of the kitchen as the two of you were approaching, but you didn’t pay much attention to him, since you were too focused on trying to recognize the voice coming from the room Changbin was leading you to.

«I swear, Lea,» the male voice spoke with a thick accent, «she fled, just like that!» you instinctively furrowed your eyebrows, because the voice definitely sounded familiar, and you hoped for your instinct to be proven wrong. As you stepped into Changbin’s cozy kitchen, Lea immediately let go of the fabric rag she was using to clean the wooden counter of the kitchen, just to come and greet you with a warm hug, but your eyes widened as soon as your gaze met the boy comfortably sitting on a wooden chair, with his arm placed on the table. «Hello, fireball,» the boy spoke with a smug smile, the light of the fireplace dancing in his bright blue eye, «what a coincidence, I was talking about you, just now.»

«I can’t believe my fucking luck.» you muttered to yourself, letting go of the leather handles of your bag, letting it falling on the floor, as you returned Lea’s warm embrace.

CHAPTER II

«I have never done such things!» you hastily denied, covering your mouth with the back of your hand, ignoring every single rule of etiquette which imposed you not to speak with your mouth full of food; your gaze briefly met Chris’ – the child of Water you had recently met, and it didn’t take a particular wild guess to acknowledge the fact he was listening to everything Lea was saying just to have many more things to tease you with. Lea, however, was looking at you with a beaming and fond smile, recognizing the fact that you did remember, and proceeded with talking about every interesting anecdotes about your childhood she could remember.

«One time, Changbin let her hit him with one of the fake swords they used, and actually pretended to be hurt and well, she started crying! Ah, she was so cute back then.» «Am I not anymore?» you immediately questioned arching your bow, and Lea immediately shook her head. «Of course you are, you look exactly like your mother – speaking of which, have you already been to Velia?» Although Lea’s question was harmless, for some reason, it was enough for the appetite you had felt to completely vanish; you shook your head, simply answering that you were going to, within the following days.

«Velia? The port city?» Chris curiously questioned, and you wordlessly nodded; acknowledging your silence, Changbin briefly explained that Velia is where you used to live as a child, before eventually, your mother died and Hongjoong and the others left, taking you with them.

«Well, I didn’t know this part of the story.» Chris mumbled to himself, and the boy sitting next to him – Felix, sighed heavily. «There would be an infinite things you’d know if you weren’t so quick on jumping to conclusion.» Felix spoke, and Chris simply shrugged, agreeing with him.

From what you learnt in the two weeks you had spent at Changbin’s and Lea’s house, both Chris and Felix came from Ilya Island, which was few days away from Velia. Apparently, they had come both to visit Changbin – an old time friend, and both to assure the Capital that the Island would have helped in case the Cursed Kingdom decided to declare war. Moreover, if you weren’t surprised about Felix being the Prince of Ilya Island – not only everything in his behaviour seemed to scream “royalty” but also the golden and thin tiara he always wore actually resembled some sort of crown, you were definitely surprised to learn that Chris was not only the head of their Kingdom’s whole army, but also Felix’s most trusted counsellor. How did a boy so annoying and reckless manage to get such an important title, was a mystery to you.

«Oi, fireball, I was meaning to ask-» «Don’t call me that,» you immediately cut Chris’ sentence, definitely not liking how his full and plump lips framed a perfect smile. «Okay, sweetheart,» he corrected himself, pronouncing the new nickname almost in a rivalry tone, «how did you control two elements at once?»

It took you few seconds to remember what he was actually talking about, but in the moment you did, your face seemed to brighten up with pride; you placed the small chalice you were drinking from back on the table, before lifting your right hand in mid-air, slightly moving it around.

«I actually can’t, I am a child of Fire,» you clarified, «Yeosang came up with this. There are few alchemy symbols embroided inside it, which allow us to use alchemy however and whenever we want, without the processing part.» you explained, as the others’ gaze was fixed on the fingerless glove hugging your hand as if it was a second skin. Although the fabric looked like leather, the consistency was far from it; unlike leather, the fabric was more elastic, flexible and waterproof, and – most importantly, it did not hinder any movement of your hand. «What symbols?» Felix asked with fake nonchalance, and you instinctively scoffed. “As if I would tell you,” you thought. «As if I knew,» you answered instead, «Yeosang came up with them.» «He created them?» Chris questioned; everyone was aware about Yeosang’s brilliance when it came to alchemy, but said stories always came from people which had been defeated by one of his inventions, reason why hearing what he was capable of from one of his friends and not one of his foes was actually even more fascinating. «He also managed to hid them, so that if we ever get defeated, no one would find out.» you added, lying about not knowing which symbols he had used.

Ever since Yeosang had successfully refined the new weapon, he had insisted for you and the others to carefully learn which symbols he had meticulously created. «So you won’t come running to me if you need a new one.» Yeosang had simply explained back then, although he was pretty clear that the fingerless gloves he had created were a very precious gift meant only for the nine of you.

«That doesn’t surprise me.» Changbin chimed in, before he eventually start rambling random praises about how Yeosang, Yunho and Mingi managed to help him building his house basically almost using alchemy alone, and it was a shame that they ended up becoming a public enemy. However, that was where you stopped listening.

Although you had spent two weeks showered with actual affection and not feeling like an outcast that had run away from the Cursed Kingdom, you started to miss home; what started as an almost imperceptible sensation, like a gentle movement of a butterfly’s wings, suddenly evolved into a pang in your heart. Were you allowed to spend your days like this? After all, you had witnessed first-hand the people you loved losing themselves to darkness; how long that vain and fragile lie would last, you wondered, realizing that you have been hiding yourself behind a small lie shaped into a thin curtain separating you from what you knew you were supposed to do? When the moon was shining high and lonely in the sky, you had the sensation of your thoughts gradually being cleared; you wanted – you needed, to find a way to help Hongjoong and the others, but how?

For sure, you couldn’t ask Changbin’s help and risking to put him in such an unquantifiable danger; it was as if it was you, and the whole world standing mysteriously against you – who was, moreover, running out of time.

The following morning, you barely finished breakfast before announcing you were going to visit your mother’s tombstone.

«Don’t talk to strangers,» Lea spoke, closing your cape a little tighter around your frame «your clothes still stand out so much…» she faintly mumbled, and you smiled sadly at her; even though you knew that keeping the clothes you and Wooyoung bought in the Cursed Kingdom were still too characteristic and unique, you didn’t want to give up on your identity, yet. «I will be home before dinner.» you answered, before climbing on your horse and urging her to move on the path to Velia, which luckily, wasn’t too far from Heidel; as you shielded your eyes from the rising sun, you smiled to yourself, remembering Chris’ utterly offended expression seeing you waving goodbye to everyone except him.

Unbeknownst to you, Felix and Chris were the only one who remained on the porch, watching as your retreating figure seemed to vanish into the sun; Lea and Changbin had quickly went back to their busy daily routine.

«Please, don’t,» Felix sighed, almost as if he could hear the train of thoughts of his long-time friend, «we’re supposed to go to the Capital and sign some boring alliance documents today.» Chris nodded wordlessly, but Felix realized he was definitely not listening to a word he had said. «Let’s keep an eye on her first.» Chris spoke few seconds later, before storming back inside the house and lively calling for Lea, asking if she had some tasks for them at Velia. «Take a deep breath, Lix,» the Prince said to himself, «and try not to whoop his ass with some nettle branches.»

Everything seemed so incredibly wrong and disconnected at the Harpies’ Ridge, Karanda noticed. Although the harpies had been restlessly working in order to rebuild everything Hongjoong had destroyed years earlier, it was as if her Kingdom was just not the same. Harpies were now almost reluctant and afraid to be reborn into a human form, since they didn’t want to risk being corrupted and absorbed into the Cursed Kingdom, joining Hongjoong’s army just like any other pawn. This had been the main reason why, during the last ten years, only two children of Air were born into the human world, harpies that had willingly reincarnated themselves in the vain hope to be helpful to Karanda in some sort of way. Even so, Karanda still decided to delete their memories from their past life, wanting them to enjoy the brevity and fleeting emotions of their human existence.

Karanda suddenly shrieked, and the sky seemed to tremble adjusting to her restless soul; few seconds later, answering to her call, a harpy graciously landed in front of her throne, immediately kneeling in a sign of utter respect towards her Queen.

«We have been fighting together for a long time, my friend,» she spoke, as a gracious smile erupted on her otherworldly features, «however, I’m afraid I have to ask you for a favour that only you can do.» furrowing her delicate brows, the harpy dared to look at her Queen, asking her to explain herself.

«As you know, everything that happens within the Cursed Kingdom’s territories is beyond my sight; however, I can see Hongjoong’s daughter now, meaning that she isn’t roaming the cursed lands, anymore. My foresight is not absolute, but I can see that she will soon start walking towards her fate, and I need you to keep an eye on her.» «You want me to… spy on her?» the harpy questioned with a doubtful shriek, and Karanda briefly nodded. «I want you to earn her trust, find any sort of useful information you can find, and protect her – as much as you can.» Karanda added; as the harpy was about to question her what was supposed to be difficult in this task, the Goddess spoke again, letting the question dying in her throat, «I want you to descend into the human world as a boy.»

Karanda saw the harpy’s shoulders fell, before she eventually sat on the ground in deject; «Why can’t I do it while being a girl? Don’t we hate men? Am I supposed to hate myself all the time, Karanda?» the harpy rambled with the intimacy that only a friend could muster.

Karanda patiently listened to her, smiling at some of her weird questions, and the harpy momentarily smiled; although she had been serving Karanda since centuries – purposely choosing to never reincarnate into her human form, she had never seen the Queen look so tense over something related to the human world, that’s why even a small smile made her feel slightly better.

«Do I have to pee like a boy as well?» she whispered yet another question, her eyes as wide as the moon as her clawed fingers hovered above her lips, and Karanda nodded. «You will only keep your memories.» the Queen spoke, avoiding her question. «I will only keep my memories…» the harpy echoed, before falling silent for few minutes; «Fine, but I’ll better be handsome.»

Karanda thanked her, before she effortlessly tore a feather from her forearm, blowing a small whiff of air into the palm of her hand; the feather seemed to dance in the wind as it surpassed the Queen’s clawed fingers, and as soon as it touched the harpy’s forehead, a white and almost blinding light enveloped her completely. It lasted as a quick blink of an eye, and standing in front of Karanda, now was a young boy with perfect features. He was tall, he had long and slim legs and his arms looked strong; his hair was as black as coal and it reached his shoulders, and his eyes were both as black as a starless night.

«Hyunjin,» Karanda spoke, «this will be your name for your human life.» «Am I handsome?» Hyunjin spoke immediately, instinctively touching his face, pleased to feel that his nose seemed to be just the perfect size. «You are.» Karanda answered, amused. «Better than Garmoth?» Hyunjin suddenly teased, enjoying how the Queen suddenly seemed to be taken back by the sudden question, «Ah, I guess not.» Hyunjin added with a pout, not giving Karanda enough time to answer him, for he said goodbye and started walking away. After all, he was a man on a mission, now; he had to find Hongjoong’s daughter and do who knows what, right?

«Hyunjin, one more thing,» Karanda spoke, and the boy stopped, tilting his head to the side, signalling he was listening, «don’t meddle yourself with human affairs too much, for you are not one of them.» with a court nod, Hyunjin started walking again, waving goodbye without turning back.

In complete truth, you suspected you would have never made it home before dinner, since the Sun signalled it was way past mid-day and you still had to made it to Velia; as much as you hated to break a promise, you had to admit that you wouldn’t have been late if only you weren’t being followed. What was only a brief suspicion probably dictated by paranoia had met a sad confirmation few hours after you decided to carefully hide your horse – taking your weapons with you and leave the small bag attached to her side empty, before climbing on a nearby oak tree. Safely hidden by its branches, you safened the two daggers you used to fight to the harnesses on your thighs, and waited.

Now, you knew you probably looked dumb for spending hours crouched on a branch, but San had always taught you to follow your survival instinct, and you had always believed that there was a reason if that was the first thing he – a former assassin, had decided to teach you. However, the more time passed, the more you deduced you really were a fool, and no one was following you; you were about to climb down from your hiding place, when a voice made you freeze in your place.

«Have you ever thought about it? The King’s daughter is basically all alone, now.» immediately, you glanced below the branch you were standing on, faintly noticing two people stopping right underneath it. «Poor thing, I guess she must be scared now.» the other man retorted, and a relieved smile erupted on your lips, since you could recognize those uniforms anywhere and everywhere; but what were soldiers from the Cursed Kingdom doing in the outskirt of a small port town?

Completely aware about the fact that no one was allowed to roam outside of the Kingdom’s territories without Hongjoong’s order, you decided not to trust the initial instinct, which had suggested you to ask them for any kind of help. For all you knew, they could be the ones following you. Not really wanting them to see you since they had stopped under the tree in order to shield themselves from the Sun, you climbed a little higher, carefully analysing the situation: there were only two of them, and from what you could see, they didn’t seem to be heavily armed. If you were lucky enough, you could use surprise effect to kill one of them, and then directly fight the other.

Tightly gripping the helm of your dagger in your left hand, you adjusted your position on the branch, ready to jump and land on one of the soldier’s shoulders, when you felt yourself being snatched back; as a hand on your mouth prevented you from screaming, your shoulders landed against someone’s firm chest, and soft fur gently tickled your left cheek.

«It’s okay, it’s me and Lix.» Chris’ voice mumbled against your ear, and you nodded, silently implying that you weren’t going to scream, and that he could let go; however, he only moved the hand from your mouth in order to place it on your waist.

As you were about to move it away, Chris quickly manoeuvred the two of you so that he was crouching down with his back against the oak tree, and you were safely nestled in his hold. “Safely”, you thought, “what in the world am I even thinking?” As you quickly fastened your dagger against your thigh once again, you noticed a large amount of branches suddenly silently grow out of nowhere, further hiding your presence whether the soldiers decided to look up; instinctively, you glanced at Felix, which simply gave you a small and gentle smile. Felix stood on the branch right next to yours, his arms crossed in front of his chest and his left shoulder leaning against the tree; for the whole time the branches were growing, his eyes had turned a bright shade of green, meaning that he was a child of Earth. For some reason, it didn’t surprise you.

«We found her horse! She must not be far from here!» someone said, and suddenly, your attention was once again completely focused on the soldiers beneath you; judging by the voices, there were at least five more of them. Chris and Felix shared a brief and worried glance behind your shoulders, but your attention didn’t waver from what was happening right below you. «There’s an excellent bounty on her head, now that Hongjoong has banished the Princess.» you heard one of them add, and instinctively you started to tremble.

Not only Hongjoong had made it clear that he had forgotten about you, he also made it clear that he didn’t want you back – at least not alive; you were considered just as any other traitor. Instinctively, you covered your mouth with the back of your hand, praying to yourself not to start to cry now, since it would have been highly unfortunate; feeling your distress, Chris’ arms held your waist a little gentler, placing his chin on your left shoulder.

«We’ll make it home.» he whispered, and you had to take a deep breath in order not to let out a broken sob.

“Home”, Chris said; too bad, you didn’t have one, not anymore.

«Need a ride?» Chris questioned you, comfortably sitting on the saddle of his horse, Felix silently riding next to him. Even though the soldiers had left few minutes later unknowingly announcing you that you were banished, the three of you had waited few more hours before eventually, climbing down the oak tree and walking to where Felix had carefully hid his and Chris’ horses with a simple spell. Dinner time was long gone, for the moon was now shining in the sky, and you wondered how Changbin and Lea must have been worrying for the three of you. «No, I’m fine.» you answered, walking as fast as you could just to keep up with the horse’s slow pace.

Although you heard Chris scoffing as a silent answer, you didn’t expect him to act up; it only took few seconds to him to lean down, quickly placing his hands under your armpits and hoist you up on the saddle of his horse, making you sitting sideways in front of him. «Really, Chris?» you questioned, immediately trying to climb back down but noticing that his arms didn’t waver the slightest. «We’ll be home sooner like this.» Felix chimed in, and you silently wondered why you didn’t find his accent annoying – which was your main though anytime Chris was opening his mouth. «Why couldn’t I ride with you?» you questioned him, and Felix shrugged, simply answering that Chris and his horse were closer to you than he was.

Of course, Changbin and Lea were worried; they were waiting right outside the front door, hoping that nothing had happened; they immediately guided the three of you to the kitchen, giving you at least something to eat, despite it was already late at night. Changbin studied your features with alarmed eyes as soon as you referred them that you were banished from your Kingdom, and the more you spoke, the more you realized that staying there meant putting everyone else in danger.

«We received this, this afternoon,» Changbin spoke once you had finished speaking; he placed a paper envelope on the table, and you immediately glanced at the familiar sealing wax stamp, «it was both cute and creepy, you know? A crow bursted into my office through the window, leaving the envelope on my desk, and flying away without sparing me a glance.» he added, and you immediately reached out, effortlessly breaking the wax and opening the letter.

“The Gobbling’s Tavern, Wednesday, at midnight. Ask for an umbrella. W.”

Although you would have been able to recognize that handwriting among a thousand, it was the request you should have made that remove all the trace of doubts; Wooyoung had the habit of combining his and San’s name together, saying that the result meant “umbrella”. Therefore, you were certain about the fact that he sent you the letter but, why did he suddenly want to see you?

«It’s tomorrow.» you spoke, deadpanned. «I hope you’re not thinking of going, young lady.» Lea spoke sternly, crossing her arms in front of her chest; even though you explained her that the letter was sent from Wooyoung, her opinion didn’t waver, but neither did yours.

Apparently, Changbin had managed to persuade his wife with the promise that he would have gone with you and of course, Chris and Felix weren’t going to stay home and wait. «Are you sure this is the best thing to do?» Lea questioned Changbin the following afternoon, and he gently kissed her forehead, before climbing on his horse. «We’re four children of Nature, Lea. I’m sure we’ll manage.» he had said, before heading towards Velia followed by you, Chris and Felix; since Changbin didn’t have another horse, you were riding behind Felix, carefully gripping on his slim waist and trying not to fall.

Just as planned, you arrived to Velia just in time; however, as soon as you saw the low cobbled city’s walls, you tensed up. «Relax,» Felix gently spoke, noticing how the grip around his waist had slightly tightened, «if things get bad, we’ll sacrifice Chris and run away.» you sighed a breathless laugh, appreciating how the boy was trying to console you although no one knew what exactly was waiting for you. «What? C’mon mate, why me?» Chris questioned, looking utterly offended. «I wonder what’s gonna happen if you die twice,» Felix murmured, ignoring his friend’s question, «you’d probably get some common sense from Vell.» he added, referring to the God of Water. «I’m gonna kick you down your horse, Lix.» Chris’ threatened; however, his voice was filled with fondness towards the other boy. It was something you had easily noticed during the time you spent together: Chris and Felix teased each other on a daily basis, but if you were to question the nature of their bond, they’d simply answer that they were like siblings. «If you kick her down as well, you will be meeting Vell sooner than expected.» Changbin added, and for few seconds, the anxiety you were feeling seemed to alleviate just a little.

Next to the port and with an excellent view of the open sea, the Gobbler’s Tavern definitely had a bad reputation; frequented by all kinds of sailors, mercenaries and prostitutes, you spent your short journey wondering why Wooyoung had chosen that place. The first thing you noticed was the predominantly dark environment, some lanterns hanging on the wall dimly lit people’s faces, making them partially unrecognizable thanks to that play of lights. The second thing you noticed was a boy; as he sat on the counter, his features were clearly recognizable, a stark difference from the rest of those in the room. He held a small lyre balanced on one thigh, and as he played it, his voice sang a sweet melody in an unknown language.

Chris’ elbow roughly nudged against yours, and that was your clue to know that probably, you were staring a bit too much; your gaze briefly met his, and he nodded towards a waiter, who was cleaning one of the tables near the counter. “What if it’s a trap?” you suddenly thought as your heart was hammering in your chest in an uneven pace; however, you slowly approached him, knowing that the others were right behind you, even if you didn’t turn around to verify it. «I… I need an umbrella.» you quietly spoke as soon as the man straightened up and asked whether he could help you. Although you felt ridiculous to actually voice that bizarre request, the waiter’s expression immediately changed; he studied your features, as if he was trying to compare you to some description, before his eyes quickly darted behind your shoulders. «Are those men with you?» was his only question; in the moment you nodded, he made a small motion with his head, silently signalling you to follow him. He quickly led you through the back doors, towards one of the room that could eventually be rented for the night; the man stopped in front of a wooden door, knocking once, waiting few seconds and then knocking three times a little quicker. In the moment you heard the door being unlocked, the waiter nodded a silent goodbye at your group, and silently made his way towards the front of the Tavern.

If you had to be honest, what you expected to see inside the room were both Wooyoung and San waiting for you, and probably give you few advices on what to do next. What you did not expect to see was Wooyoung leaning against the wall with a restless expression, his gaze lost in the fireplace burning in front of him. «Wooyoung?» you asked, somehow afraid to interrupt his thoughts; however, as soon as Wooyoung’s eyes met yours, a gentle smile bloomed on his features, and you quickly step forward towards him – ignoring Changbin’s advice to pay attention, in order to throw yourself into Wooyoung’s arms. Wooyoung held you close, as if to verify that you were still alive, that nothing had happened to you, and you hugged him just as tight. «I’m really happy you came.» Wooyoung told you, thanking Changbin for taking care of you and greeting both Chris and Felix.

It took at least half an hour for Changbin, Felix and Chris to partially let their guard down enough to take a seat in the small and cosy room, and it was all thanks to how Wooyoung was behaving towards you.

Although everyone had heard the most various tales about the Seven Generals from the Underworld, in that moment, Wooyoung did not fit any of those descriptions. Instead of a ruthless and cruel man which never hesitated to take a life under his King’s command, stood a boy which was gently smiling at you, analysing your features and questioning how could you have scratched your cheek like that, before questioning Changbin “how can she already be hurt when she has been away for barely three weeks”; the child of Water, eventually, realized that the Wooyoung standing in front of him was just the same he had met years ago and therefore, he decided to trust him. As for Chris and Felix, they were both incredibly wary and both incredibly curious about Wooyoung’s presence; although people from Ilya Island had fought many wars, no one of them had ever engaged a single battle with the Cursed Kingdom and therefore, once again, the opportunity to know the enemy is not something they were willing to pass up.

Over the years, you learned to recognize the most various changes in your uncles behaviour, and you realized that Wooyoung was definitely not doing fine; there were dark circles around his eyes, and – despite his beauty remained untouched, he definitely seemed to have lost weight. It didn’t take a particular wild guess for you to understand that something must have happened to San, and you decided to stop ignoring the elephant in the room; as much as you were enjoying your unexpected rendez-vous, you knew that there was a reason for that meeting.

«How is San?» you quietly asked, and Wooyoung’s smile disappeared in less than a second; he tightly closed his eyes, before taking a deep breath. «He… forgot,» Wooyoung spoke, and your shoulders slouched in deject, «there’s only me left, now.» he added, and you reached out, tightly holding his hand in your trembling ones. The fact that San and Wooyoung had been in love every single day was well engraved in your memories, and you couldn’t bring yourself to even imagine how Wooyoung could feel, to look at your own husband and knowing that he didn’t remember who you are. Of course, you had felt somehow the same thing since Hongjoong started to forget about you, but as similar as the situation seemed, it couldn’t be any more different. «Why did you want to meet her?» Changbin questioned, «Don’t you know that Hongjoong had banished her? There’s a bounty on her head, Wooyoung.» «Hongjoong can no longer recognize a friend from a foe,» Wooyoung immediately retorted, meeting Changbin’s sharp glare with an equal strong gaze, «not even his own kin.» he added, and as he glanced at you, his tone momentarily softened.

Unbeknownst to your small group, another secret yet important meeting was taking place within the tavern’s bedrooms.

A woman with otherworldly features slowly made her way through the corridors, and even though there were no windows and the doors were tightly closed, her clothes seemed to move thanks to a gentle breeze; her hair was as white as snow, neatly braided into a complicated hairstyle, while her skin was as white as porcelain. Her steps carried her towards a room not much distant than the one you and Wooyoung were in, and her left securely hovered above the handle before stepping inside.

«We’re the rulers of the sky,» she said, closing the wooden door behind her shoulders with another flick of her hand, her voice greeting a man which was patiently waiting for her, «and yet, you ask me to meet you in a tavern?»

The man chuckled, slightly turning around, «You can’t say you didn’t miss it, Karanda.»

«For sure, I did not, Garmoth.» she immediately retorted; her dislike towards human was well known to the dragon, which on the other hand, seemed to be fascinated by them since humans started to roam around the world.

Garmoth simply chuckled at her words, and Karanda sighed briefly, noticing that once again, nothing had changed on his distant lover’s features; he was tall, and his honey coloured skin empathized the bright red colour of his eyes. His hair was slightly longer, she noticed, untameable dark red strands of hair now reached past his collarbones, and for a moment, she wondered if he liked to braid his hair as he used to, long time ago.

«We’re here because your son couldn’t keep calm.» she spoke, walking towards the balcony and standing next to him, keeping a reasonable distance. «We’re here because your daughter couldn’t stay alive; moreover, you could simply have told Hongjoong the truth.» Garmoth shrugged, and Karanda immediately scoffed, annoyed.

«It’s impossible to be reasonable with a son of Fire.» she immediately spat, hiding her feelings behind a wall of resentment.

«You never had any problems before.» Garmoth turned around, his back pressed against the railing; he tilted his head towards Karanda, but as expected, she dodged the topic, instead voicing her doubt about the God of Corruption being woken up.

«We sealed him away long time ago,» Garmoth shook his head, «but I do believe Hongjoong had found some crumbles of Kzarka’s aura.»

Even though the words Wooyoung were speaking were being pronounced nowhere near the balcony, the words you shared were carried by a gentle breeze towards the room Karanda and Garmoth were patiently staying in, so that they could hear everything as if they were right beside you.

Wooyoung had never stopped talking since he had admitted he wanted to meet you because he owed you an explanation; according to his words, him, San and Seonghwa were firmly convinced that there was something you needed to know, something which maybe, would have made you hate your father a little less.

«I don’t hate him – » you tried to say, but Wooyoung simply shook his head, ignoring you. Apparently, Hongjoong was aware that there was something wrong with your mother’s illness, and it all started since some people from your hometown had found a strange glowing stone, and decided to entrust it to your parents – having both of them met a God once.

«Hongjoong knew he was slowly changing, he often told us how that stone seemed to cloud his senses,» Wooyoung spoke, his gaze meeting both yours and your friends’, «he… was afraid to hurt people, and to hurt you. We all freely decided to follow him, although he kept saying that we needed to go back and take care of you – I know you probably won’t like me saying this, but Hongjoong to us has always been a brother, and a reliable leader. Our love for him had influenced every single one of our choices, including the one to be corrupted in your place.»

«What do you mean?» you mumbled with a trembling voice, even though you weren’t sure your voice could actually be audible to anyone in the room in the first place; you felt like you have been suddenly showered with frozen water in the middle of a snowstorm.

«I mean,» Wooyoung took a breath, caressing your fingers in a vain attempt to console you, «that it wasn’t supposed to end like this; we were supposed to leave Velia, and to find a solution together, but – Hongjoong found another stone in the Castle’s ruins, and… you know the rest.»

Of course, you knew; the moment Hongjoong found the second stone was the day his once bright red eye had turned as black as a starless night.

«What I’m trying to say, is that Hongjoong tried to protect you, in a very messy way, but me and the others promised to tell you, sooner or later.» Wooyoung chuckled without humour, before adding that originally, San was supposed to come with him that night.

«What can we do to help?» Chris spoke, interrupting what seemed a fraction of eternity made of tense silence, and you suddenly remembered that you weren’t alone with Wooyoung, but your friends had decided to come with you as well.

To be honest, you were incredibly curious about his sudden change of heart, since you knew that the only task Chris and Felix had, was to confirm to the Capital that in case of war, they would have fought against Hongjoong without hesitation; you thought that Chris’ question was actually something he didn’t mean, but Felix’s expression confirmed that he wasn’t going to deny his friend’s proposal.

«Yeosang found out that someone managed to summon Garmoth,» Wooyoung explained, «I want you to summon him before Hongjoong does, and do whatever he says.»

«That’s unreasonable!» you spoke a little louder than you meant to, with a trembling voice, «You know what Hongjoong’s goal is; what if he tells me to kill all of you?»

«Then you will do as he says.» Wooyoung gently answered, brushing a strand of hair behind your left ear, shortly caressing the feather earring you always wore.

«I can’t – I don’t – »

«Sunshine,» Wooyoung interrupted your sentence, and you realized that few tears had gathered on the corner of his eyes as well, «we haven’t been alive for a while.»

«She will try to find you,» Karanda commented, «will you help her?» even though her eyes already saw part of their encounter thanks to her innate gift of foresight, she still questioned him.

«Hongjoong’s plans affect the four of us; Vell and Offin had made it clear that they don’t want to meddle with the human world…» even though Garmoth’s resentment towards the other two divinities was probably as deep as the ocean itself, he couldn’t ignore what was happening.

Even though he lost the count of how many years had passed since the Battle of the Dawn of Times – where Kzarka had been sealed away, he couldn’t deny that the possibility of Hongjoong’s power being fuelled by the God of Corruption’s latent aura was something too dangerous to ignore. «I will help her.» Garmoth finally confirmed.

«So,» Karanda sighed, «we’re the only ones remaining.» «We are the only ones remaining.» he echoed her words.

Eventually, few hours after your meeting with Wooyoung had finished, Karanda let Garmoth undress her, and for a night they pretended they were back in the days - millenniums ago, where the most different kind of gods and goddesses crowded the world and they could freely enjoy the beaming joy and tumultuous passions of their love; for a night, they pretended they weren’t two of the last divinities carefully keeping the world into balance.

Whether that night the wind seemed to blow a little gentler, whether that morning the sun seemed to burn even brighter as it rose in the sky, that was for the two of them to know. When the morning came, they kissed each other goodbye; Karanda vanished in a whiff of wind, and Garmoth gently blowed on the remaining traces of a lonely candle, vanishing in the same moment the candle’s flame had died.

Contrary to your expectations, your mother’s tombstone was well cared for, and there were fresh flowers at its feet; although you wondered whether Lea and Changbin were the only ones taking care of it or someone from the village was silently helping them as well, you didn’t bring yourself to voice your question. As the sun was slowly rising in the sky and the village was awakening, you sat in the small cemetery with your gaze unfocused, trying to process everything that Wooyoung had told you few hours earlier as silent tears were streaming on your face.

«Please, mom, what do I have to do?» you murmured, your question engulfed by a sudden gentle breeze, «If you were in my place, you would have known.» you hugged your knees to your chest, pressing your forehead against them, and allowed yourself to cry.

Absorbed in your thoughts, you hadn’t noticed the sound of grinding gravel under someone’s approaching footsteps, before you felt something being gently draped around your shoulders.

«It gets cold in the morning.» Chris spoke, unsure about how to approach you; judging by the proximity of his voice, he was crouching next to you.

«Children of Fire don’t get cold.» you croaked, slightly lifting your head, «but thanks.» you faintly added, aware that him – along with Changbin and Felix had been patiently waiting for you at the cemetery’s gates.

«Let’s go back, shall we?» although Chris’ question was gentle, you understood the sense of urgency he was somehow trying to hide. You nodded at him, realizing that since there was a bounty on your head, you couldn’t spend your time having a breakdown out in the open for everyone to see; after all, you didn’t even notice Chris approaching you, and that made you an extremely easy target. Chris stood up, offering you his hand, and you took it, sealing a secret and still unknown deal that would have intertwined your destinies for good.

Unbeknownst to you, Hyunjin comfortably sat on a branch of one of the cedar trees near the cemetery; his position was relaxed, his right leg was bent on the wood while the left one was dangling from it, as he studied you and your companions, with an unreadable expression.

«Looks like we’re gonna meet sooner than I expected.» he murmured to himself, as you and Chris were quickly walking towards the others.

CHAPTER III

After securing on your shoulders the backpack Wooyoung and Seonghwa gifted you and taking deep breath, you opened the window and swoon your leg over the railing of the small balcony attached to your room. Escaping from the first floor definitely was not a difficult task, but sneaking out in the middle of the night was all about being as silent as the snow falling on the ground.

“Careful, now, I’m almost done…” you calmly encouraged yourself as you successfully landed on the soft grass; after all, by now, you were quite the expert of running away in the middle of the night.

Although you didn’t have a precise destination in mind, you still felt as if leaving Changbin and the others behind was the best solution you could have came up with. After the meeting with Wooyoung, you felt like you had completely changed; not only you barely walked out of your room – consequentially making Changbin, Lea and your new friends incredibly worry about you, but you started to drastically overthink things as well, which definitely was a habit you never had. Even if you were glad about the fact that no one tried to forcefully snap you out of your self isolation, let’s just say that if only you could have seen a glimpse of the future, you would have appreciated a little bit more Chris’ insistence on trying to make a conversation every time he brought you something to eat.

Sighing in deject because – for obvious reasons, you couldn’t borrow one of the horses from the stable, you let your feet and your instinct hastily walk you towards an indefinite destination as you tightly gripped on your backpack, knowing that as soon as morning came, your friends would have started looking for you.

The sun started to rise in the sky once you were walking through Heidel’s unfamiliar outskirts. It was not excessively difficult to orient yourself – after all, it was a simple beaten road lined with maple trees; but when you realized that the sun was about to be high in the sky and you didn’t have quick and secure places to hide yourself in case of need, you realized that probably, you should have planned your escape a little better.

«I can’t believe our luck.» an unfamiliar voice made you abruptly stop, making your head snap to your left; when you noticed a small group of men definitely coming from the Cursed Kingdom, you realized that definitely, you should have planned your escape a little better.

Even if you were clearly outnumbered you immediately excluded the option of running away, since there was no way you could outrun five horses; the only option you had was to fight against them, and so, you took a deep breath and tightly gripped on the daggers you had secured on your thighs.

“We’re from the same Kingdom,but I highly doubt Hongjoong and the others personally taught them how to fight”, you encouraged yourself once again, feeling a little more secure about your fighting skills.

«Come on Princess, the bounty is higher if we return with a corpse.» one of them spat, making the others laugh and instinctively making your skin crawl; taking advance of the surprise effect, you launched forward, successively stabbing the man closer to you in his abdomen.

However, when the men realized that you were definitely not willing to go back home without fighting for your life, they immediately started to counter attack, and for the first time since you left the Cursed Kingdom, you wished you weren’t fighting alone. The sun was high in the sky, and there wasn’t a single cloud on sight; you were tired, and there was definitely blood trickling down your arm from a bad looking cut on your right shoulder. Although you managed to put a safe distance between you and the men – now three of them, you were forced to admit that you were in worrying disadvantage; your daggers were both scattered on the floor too far from where you stood, and your opponents were way too skilled for you to face without a weapon.

Ignoring the pain you felt as you tried to lift your right arm, you lifted your shaking hand in mid air, ready to use magic, even if – since you were surrounded by trees, it wasn’t the wisest choice.

However, what you definitely did not expect to happen, was for someone to appear out of thin air, placing their left hand right above your right one, making your head snap towards the new arrived.

«The bard?!», you questioned – louder than you meant to, as you recognized the tall boy standing next to you as the boy who was playing the lyre in the tavern where you met Wooyoung few days ago.

Instinctively, you tried to yank your hand out his firm hold in the vain attempt to put some distance between the two of you, but he didn’t let you.

«Hyunjin,» he gently answered, offering his name as if you had all the time in the world and weren’t in the middle of a fight, «when you feel me close my hand, cast the most powerful spell you know.»

The fact that Hyunjin didn’t wait for an answer and immediately started to slowly close his hand in a fist, made you quickly snap out of your thoughts and realize that you needed to hurry; your eyes were glowing bright red, and you made sure to follow Hyunjin’s instruction to cast the strongest spell that Hongjoong taught you, but what you saw made your concentration drastically waver.

There was no way in the world that you couldn’t recognize the spell that has just been casted, since you have heard about it since you were a little girl, eagerly asking your uncles to tell you about that time your mother defeated basically the whole Cult of Serendia’s Disciples by herself.

Hyunjin’s long fingers easily intertwined with yours, and the bounty hunters simultaneously fell lifeless on the ground while gripping their throat.

«Internal carbonization, huh? It’s been a while.» you heard Hyunjin mutter – mostly to himself, and you turned towards him, a whirlwind of questions in your head that he probably never would have answered.

Hyunjin had just used one of the forbidden spells, so why he didn’t look fatigued? You knew that it took a lot of energy, so how could a simple human -

«Who are you?» you asked, removing your hand from Hyunjin’s hold and bringing it towards your chest; your heart picked up pace, and you honestly hoped you didn’t have to fight him as well, because you highly doubted you could have won.

Hyunjin simply shrugged, before offering you a wide and dazzling smile, «Let’s just say that I’m not a foe.» he stated, and your eyebrows furrowed in doubt.

However, every possibility to prolong your conversation with him vanished as soon as you heard your name being called.

«Finally, Prince Charming made it to the rescue,» he mumbled again, placing a hand on his hip while glancing towards his left, but before you could question his words, his fingertips gently hovered above the cut on your shoulder, and you felt the sting caused from your wound immediately vanish, «I didn’t completely heal it, but at least, it won’t get infected; make sure to take care of it.»

«Wait-» you called out as he walked past you.

«Until next time!» he waved his hand in mid air with a cheerful voice, before vanishing in a gust of wind, making you wonder if you had imagined your encounter in the first place.

Everything about Chris riding a horse was solemn; from his posture to his incredibly angry expression.

«What the hell happened to you?» Chris quickly dismounted from his horse, his cape made of fur obediently following his movements as he close the distance between the two of you with hasty steps.

He slowly took in your appearance, and immediately reached out to inspect the wound on your shoulder; obviously, you couldn’t notice the relief erupting on his features as soon as he noticed that you already seemed to have taken care of it, because as soon as he approached, you instinctively lowered your gaze. Chris glanced around the two of you, noticing the corpses of your attackers, and silently cursed himself for being too late to help you.

«Everyone is worried sick, come on, let’s head back.» he added, but as soon as he wrapped his hand around your wrist, you forcefully yanked it from his hold.

«No.» you simply answered, heading to collect your daggers from the floor, cleaning the blades with part of the fabric of your opponent’s cape before sheathing them against your thighs.

«No?!» he echoed, incredulous, following you as if he was a determined not to let you run away again.

«No.» you repeated, spinning on your heels just to find Chris standing closer than you imagined, «I won’t go back – I can’t.»

Chris simply raised one of his eyebrows, placing his hands on his hips as if he was silently urging you to go on and explain yourself; only then, you allowed yourself to take in the appearance of the boy standing in front of you.

There were undeniable dark circles under his eyes, and you deduced that he must have come back recently from his trip to the Capital, only for the awareness that Chris and Felix came back from the Capital at least four days ago to sink in; there was a wild thought running through your brain, a small doubt saying that Chris was genuinely worried for you, but you blatantly decided to ignore it.

«If I stay, you’ll be in danger. Changbin, Lea – I can’t possibly do this to them.» you explained, and he wordlessly looked around the two of you, running a hand through his dark hair out of frustration.

«And you can do this to yourself?» he questioned, making your remark melt on your throat; you answered with a brief nod, and Chris sighed in exasperation.

«Listen-»

«There’s a bounty on my head, Chris, not on yours. I can’t spend my days taking advantage of Changbin’s hospitality and then expect to protect them as soon as bounty hunters show up. I want them to live a peaceful and quiet life, as far away from trouble as possible.» you had to admit that talking about what you have silently been thinking about for weeks was like getting rid of an enormous weight on your soul, but you definitely didn’t expect for Chris to reach out and gently envelope you into a hug; you closed your eyes, timidly placing your hands on his hips, and let him place his chin on top of your head.

«I believe you’re missing few essential points,» he gently spoke, «when you showed up at Changbin’s, did you ask for help or you simply appeared out of nowhere?» you tensed up, his words neatly contrasting the gentle movements of his hand threading through your hair, «but most importantly, when you decided to see Wooyoung, did you ask me and Lix to come, or did we simply tag along?»

«What I’m trying to say,» it was as if Chris could feel your eyebrows furrow in doubt, because he explained himself further, «I honestly doubt that you faced every problem on your own back home, right? So… don’t be afraid to ask for help, because there are people who genuinely want to help you. Aren’t we friends?»

«We are not,» you clarified on the verge of tears, «I want to strangle you every time you open your stupid mouth.» you admitted, and Chris huffed a laugh in response, slightly tightening his arms around you.

«You sure do have suggestive fantasies, Princess.» he mumbled with a shrug, making you snort in reflex.

Eventually, Chris let go of your frame, wiping few tears from your cheek using his thumb; by now, you were used to his snarky and competitive comments and therefore, his gentle and sincere gaze took you off guard.

«Do you want to come home, so that we can figure something out?» Chris questioned, and you instinctively nodded; whether you did it because you could still hear his fast heartbeat from when he hugged you, or whether you did it because you felt strangely safe in that moment, you decided not to think too much about it.

It was hard to explain the utter relief erupting on Changbin’s and Lea’s faces as soon as you and Chris rode back home. Felix, on the other hand, simply sat on the porch with a satisfied smile and his eyes bright green; as soon as you noticed the leaves slowly floating above the palms of his joined hands disappear, you understood that he must have used magic in order to locate you.

Exactly two days after you tried to escape, you decided to tell the others why you choose to run away in the first place; you settled for being as honest as possible, only hiding about what happened in the woods and therefore, about Hyunjin’s mysterious appearance. Everyone patiently listened to you, while trying to come up with an efficient solution.

Even though she cared for you just as if you were her daughter, Lea – and half of the servants, didn’t know how to fight and therefore, since the probability of bounty hunters finding out your hiding location was high, the most clever solution was for you to constantly be on the run.

«If I remember correctly, Wooyoung said that someone in Duvencrune managed to summon Garmoth.» Changbin spoke, claiming everyone’s attention.

«Did he? But… Isn’t that almost impossible?» Lea voiced her doubt; although she didn’t have any magical power, it was safe to say that everyone knew that the most known way to meet a God was to die.

“I wonder why Seonghwa and Jongho managed to meet them”, you thought, aware that your doubts would remain unanswered forever.

«I don’t want to doubt his intentions, but we might be lured into a trap.» Felix added, smiling apologetically at you, making you nod your head in a silent answer; you didn’t want to doubt Wooyoung either, since after all he took a huge risk while coming to see you, but…

«The only way to find out, is to check it out ourselves.» Chris spoke, as if he could hear your train of thoughts and decided to finish it for you.

«You really enjoy risking your life, don’t you?» Felix sighed, but didn’t try to oppose his friend’s decision, which simply answered with a confident shrug, followed by a «scared, your Highness?»

«Please, no! I don’t want to disturb you further than this.» you spoke, but Lea promptly lifted her hand in mid air, silencing you.

«Nonsense, your mother was my best friend, and this is the least I can do.» Lea dismissively said, before pointing her index finger towards her husband, «You’ll go with them.»

«Me?» Changbin questioned, pointing to himself.

«Who else? Do I look like a child of Nature?»

That’s how, on a Sunday morning, you, Chris, Felix and Changbin started to pack your belongings, headed towards the rocky city of Duvencrune, expertly carved in the side of a mountain and silently watching over Garmoth’s nest since generation.

The road was clear ahead of your quartet, but even so, Felix seemed restless; you saw him mumble something to Chris, which briefly nodded at him before directing his horse behind yours and Changbin’s; you watched Chris with furrowed brows, waiting for an explanation, but he simply winked at you in a confident way, before locking his gaze on his long time friend.

Felix, on the other hand, was busy examinating some leaves peacefully floating on the palm of his hand; it was the same spell he used to locate you when you ran away, you deduced, but who was he trying to locate this time?

It couldn’t possibly be someone from the Cursed Kingdom, you thought; they generally moved either in couples or in small groups, so there was not a high possibility for them to be already tailing you – moreover you were sure that Felix would have noticed them.

All of a sudden, the leaves seemed to start floating more aggressively, almost moving in a fast spiral, only for Felix to tighten his fist with a quick move, making the spell disappear at once.

«I wonder how long you’re planning to follow us.» Felix spoke, and few seconds later, a familiar boy jumped from one of the maple branches above your head, just to effortlessly step on Felix’s horses, sitting right behind him, with his back against his.

«I tend to forget children of Earth can chit-chat with trees.» Hyunjin teased; even if Changbin and Chris instinctively started riding closer to you, the fact that no one tried to attack him was probably because Felix was silently stating that Hyunjin was not a threat.

“It’s quite strange,” you thought; Hyunjin was acting as if him and Felix were long time friends, and on the other hand, everything about Felix’s posture seems to be at ease with Hyunjin’s presence.

“Either Felix is really strong or they know each other,” you simply stated, deciding to let the others decide what to do; after all, Hyunjin saved your life.

If Felix didn’t seem to mind about the bard’s presence, Changbin and Chris definitely had a different opinion on the matter; they both rode close to you, and you noticed how both of them seemed to be ready to start fighting at any moment.

«Where are we going?» Hyunjin asked few moments later with a big content sigh, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

«We?» Chris echoed with a scoff, but eventually refrained from speaking sarcastic remarks as he saw Felix shaking his head towards him.

«I’m a bard,» Hyunjin stated, as if he was putting an effort into answering him, «I sing about new adventures, and not to mention your Princess owes me one.»

At once, three pair of eyes were on you; Hyunjin chuckled, obviously amused about the fact that apparently, you had decided to keep your encounter a secret.

«When the hunters attacked me, he helped me fight them, he’s a child of Air.» you simply explained, avoiding to mention the forbidden spell part.

«And he casually happened to walk by?» Changbin questioned, and you simply shrugged; although everything regarding Hyunjin’s presence was suspicious, it was undeniable that you wouldn’t be alive if he didn’t intervene and therefore, your group agreed to keep him around.

That night, when you stopped in order to get few hours of sleep, Felix quickly mumbled something to Chris, whose eyes were locked on Hyunjin’s figure, eagerly talking to you and Changbin next to a small fireplace.

«You still haven’t told me where our adventure will take us.» the bard questioned later, interrupting Chris’ attempt to start a conversation with you.

«Duvencrune,» Changbin answered, «we’re looking for someone.»

«Oh, interesting.» Hyunjin hummed, before resuming his previous action of playing his small lyre.

«It’s gonna take less time if we avoid passing through the villages,» Changbin explained, «if we head west from here, the vegetation won’t be too rich, and the weather will increasingly be dryer; it will take less, but we will be an easy target.»

Even so, with you having lived within the Cursed Kingdom’s territories for the majority of your life, Felix and Chris not knowing anything about where you were and Hyunjin simply nodding at Changbin’s proposal, the only thing you could do was to trust him.

«Sulien, that’s the woman you’re looking for.» Hyunjin spoke out of the blue, as his eyes seemed to glow in a menacing dark shade of greyish colour – definitely different from your mother’s.

«How do you know?» you immediately questioned him; however, Hyunjin never gave you a proper answer.

«Doesn’t the wind know everything, Princess?» were the only words he spoke for the whole day.

The trip to Duvencrune lasted eight days, definitely less than you originally had expected.

Hyunjin kept close to you half of the time, and the other half was spent riding Felix’s horse while sitting in random positions; although Hyunjin was doing his best, you didn’t miss to notice how he would sometimes look at your friends with disgusted faces, just to give you a dazzling smile as soon as he noticed that your eyes were on him.

Changbin meticulously checked his compass and the position of the Sun, leaving to Felix the task to check your surroundings while using magic. Chris was in charge of setting and undoing the small camps every time you decided to stop in order to take few hours of rest, without forgetting to beat the ground and scatter some leaves above your temporary camps, so that it wouldn’t have been too easy to follow you.

The hunt was a coordinated act among you, Felix and Chris; to be honest, the Prince and his long time friend could have done everything by themselves but still, you were desperate to learn something useful.

So, that’s how you went from placing your hand flat on the ground next to Felix’s, curiously glancing at this bright green eyes staring unfocused at the ground in front of him, trying to locate a possible prey; needless to say, being a daughter of Fire, you couldn’t feel anything.

Therefore, after recognizing Chris’ talent in archery anytime Felix lured a prey close to where he was, your main goal was to learn how to hunt; of course you knew the basics of archery, but even so, shooting to a still target was definitely different to shoot to a moving one.

«Your stance still says that you’re not expecting for the prey to flee, fireball, and that’s gonna make you starve.» Chris spoke, and your grip on the bow loosened, bringing it closer to your hips.

«I really don’t get the whole “follow the line” thing.» you admitted, referring to one of his previous suggestion, expecting another sarcastic remark. Instead, Chris thoughtfully nodded at you, glancing around the opening where you were resting; he snapped his fingers, and not that far from you, few small floating balls made of water started to move in different directions.

Chris walked right behind you, and if he decided to hold the bow with a tight grip right above your hand, he did the opposite thing for the arrow; this time, your fingers ghosted above his, and you felt as if after all, you never learned how to properly shoot.

It would have been nice for you to be able to concentrate, however, with Chris’ arms firmly caging you and his gentle voice explaining everything about how to properly hunt made it impossible for you to register more than few words he said. Once again, you decided not to think too much about it, saying that it was probably because beside Wooyoung and Seonghwa, you haven’t been held definitely in a while.

«The secret is to predict the opponent’s movement, and aim just a little ahead of them,» Chris spoke dangerously close to your ear, as he was focused on not to miss on his shot; you did your best to keep your breathing synchronized to his, and in the moment the two of you were exhaling, Chris’ fingers loosened around the arrow, and few seconds later, the small ball of water crashed on the ground under the form of a faint and localized rain pour.

«That’s it, you want to try again?» he questioned, and whether you immediately nodded because you really needed more practice or you instinctively felt the need to keep him close to you, you decided not to think too much about it.

«Uh, are they a thing?» Hyunjin questioned, his eyes following both you and Chris with interest and a hint of amusement.

«Not yet.» Felix retorted immediately without feeling the need to check what the two of you were doing, laying with his eyes closed as he quietly rested under the sunlight.

«I say they’d look cute together.» Changbin nodded, with a wide smile on his face.

As obvious as it sounded, your only task was to keep the fire alive anytime you stopped in order to rest: bright enough to keep them warm and properly cook your food but not bright enough to be spotted by eventual enemies.

However, thanks to Yeosang’s enchanted glove, the task was as easy as kid’s play. The ability to use alchemy whenever you wanted meant that you definitely didn’t need wood in order to create a fireplace; Felix easily provided you few strand of dried bushes, which would have burned around the handle of your enchanted sword, effectively creating a fireplace but not leaving traces of warm and burnt wood behind you.

Keeping the fire alive meant that you could sleep for most of the morning, but you had to stay awake for most of the night, willingly keeping watch and gladly accepting whether someone decided to stay awake with you. Of course, you definitely didn’t miss to notice the fact that Chris’ company was almost a constant throughout your sleepless nights.

Although the two of you sat at a reasonable distance at first, sharing stories about your past and your hometowns, said distance eventually ended up disappearing, and eventually, you and Chris sat next to each other, your knees brushing anytime one of you decided to adjust their position.

«I’m telling you, that night Felix was three sheet to the wind,» Chris whispered animatedly, glancing fondly at his friend who was asleep.

«He was three sheet what?» you echoed; you weren’t sure whether it was your mutual exhaustion or the fact that Chris had so many unusual figures of speech but you found yourself giggling, and the boy curiously glanced at you.

«It means being drunk,» he explained, scratching his nape, «you probably don’t use it here.» when you shook your head, he nodded once, and if only you weren’t so tired and it wasn’t the middle of the night, you would have noticed a faint blush colouring his cheeks.

«You stopped, why?» you gently nudged his elbow, «I want to know more.»

«About?» Chris asked, immediately trying to recall some other fun fact to tell you.

«You.» you immediately retorted without thinking, only to realize it as soon as Chris’ head snapped towards you, the fireplace’s colours dancing in his blue left eye, «I mean, more about your life.»

“That’s even worse, great job”, you thought, blaming the fact that you were tired for the fact that you were embarrassing yourself like that.

«Oh, sink me.» you heard Chris mumble, and immediately you were thrown in another fit of giggles, which definitely didn’t went unnoticed by the boy.

«You seriously need to stop making fun of me, fireball.» Chris said while hiding a smile.

He quickly snaked his arm around your neck, just to effortlessly pull you against his chest; the boy started scratching your head while using his knuckles – not actually hurting you, making you laugh even more while trying to reach out to escape from his grasp.

«Who’s gonna fucking tell them?» Hyunjin mouthed to Felix, which was laying on the ground facing the bard.

«Not me, for sure.» he mouthed back, quickly glancing at Changbin, wondering how could he sleep through all this shameless flirting attempts.

Riding a horse for the most part of the day right under the sun, with an increasingly arid climate and surrounded by uncultivated land was definitely tougher that you thought. Even though everyone kept asking you how you were feeling, whether you wanted to take a break, you didn’t want to furthermore slow your group.

«We’ll be at the feet of the mountain by noon,» Changbin explained, «from there, the road will constantly be uphill but – if I remember correctly, there are some trees along the way.»

«How do you know so much? We’re pretty far from Heidel, did you travel a lot?» you questioned, and Changbin nodded, keeping his gaze ahead of himself.

«I used to travel a lot when I was younger, but I married Lea and I eventually stopped. She doesn’t like it much.» he briefly explained, and you nodded at him with a smile.

Changbin’s adoration for his wife was the trait that reminded him about Hongjoong the most; when you were a child and still lived in Velia, it was an extremely known fact that Hongjoong was absolutely whipped for your mother.

With a silent sigh, you realized that Changbin stopped travelling because he didn’t want to force Lea to do something she didn’t like, and you found yourself wondering if you would ever meet a partner like that.

“Why am I even going there?” you immediately interrupted your fantasies with a short intake of breath, mostly because you were scared about where your brain would have wandered next.

Evening was about to set on the fourth day of your trip, and everything was going unexpectedly smoothly, maybe, a little bit too much. Although you refused to voice your thought because you believed being blinded by paranoia, you felt like being watched; the fact that you kept sneaking glances around yourselves definitely didn’t go unnoticed by Hyunjin, who, even thought was aware about the fact that you were about to be attacked, couldn’t do anything to prevent it.

«Don’t meddle yourself with human affairs too much, for you are not one of them.» Karanda had told him, and he was determined to follow the orders he had received; even so, he found himself hoping that Felix could manage to locate and identify your attackers just in time.

However, Felix noticed them a little too late; an arrow emitted from the luxuriant leaves of one of the nearby trees, painfully sinking in your right thigh. Needless to say, your horse went wild as soon as he heard the hiss of the arrow right next to his ear, and immediately stood on his hind legs, effortlessly throwing you off the saddle; Hyunjin, however, quickly prevented you from unceremoniously fall to the gravel ground and hit your head by making you float for few seconds, gradually accompanying you to a sitting position.

With a pained groan, your hand flew on your thigh, and you felt the colour drain from your face as you took notice of the feathers adorning the end of the arrow.

“It’s from the Cursed Kingdom,” you noticed, “it’s poisoned for sure”. If both Chris and Changbin were immediately at your side, Felix was effortlessly casting a spell – now helped by Hyunjin, in order to capture your attackers.

Changbin quickly climbed down from his horse – quickly nodding at Chris and telling him to help the others, and you watched with trembling hands as your friend easily snapped the arrow in two.

«I think it’s – Changbin, it may be poisoned.» you warned him, and Changbin glanced to his left, just in time to see your attackers being dragged on the ground while being tightly wrapped up in ropes.

Gradually, you started to feel your head spin and your world started to fade to black, and the only words you could register after Chris’ anxiously calling for your name, was one of your attackers – the oldest among the two, confidently say: «Ever heard of poison? Guess what? Give it an hour.»

«If she doesn’t wake up within a minute, consider yourselves food for the wolves.» you heard Chris spat with a rough and unfriendly tone, definitely not what you were used to; with a weak groan, you opened your eyes, immediately noticing that the wound on your leg didn’t hurt as much as it did earlier.

«Take it easy,» Changbin’s arms were quick to sustain your attempt to sit up, and you willingly let him place himself behind you, so that you could easily stay in a sitting position. «how are you feeling?»

«Sleepy and tired, what happened to the poison?» you mumbled back; if you learned something from Changbin’s teaching, was that the position of the sun signalled that it was afternoon, meaning that at least twelve hours had passed since the ambush.

«Well, Prince Charming tortured the bounty hunters until he found the antidote.» Hyunjin chimed in, nodding towards two boys who were still tied up; they were about your age, you noticed, both with raven black hair and a stoic face.

«Did you hurt them that badly?» you croaked, questioning Chris and Felix, which respectively shook their head and shrugged.

«They’re harmless; Seungmin and Jeongin, bounty hunters from the Cursed Kingdom.» Chris explained, and only then, you noticed that his hand didn’t waver for a second from gently holding your wrist, his index finger right above your pulse point.

It took you few hours to effectively regain your strength, and although your friends admonished your attempt to excuse yourself from being poisoned like a fool while constantly saying that it wasn’t your fault, you still felt guilty.

The group unanimously agreed to keep both Seungmin and Jeongin with you, so that you could keep an eye on them.

«After all, they willingly gave us the antidote.» Felix said.

«Did you see how scary Chris was? Of course they willingly gave it up.» Changbin immediately retorted, and even thought Seungmin and Jeongin were tied up most of the times, you and the others still gave them water and something to eat every time you stopped to camp.

However, after two days both Seungmin and Jeongin completely gave up their decision to capture you in order to bring you back to Hongjoong; whether it happened because Chris had pinned Seungmin to the ground with his dagger pressed against his throat, threatening to tear both of them apart if they ever tried to hurt you again, that’s something that – in Chris’ opinion, you didn’t need to know.

Duvencrune’s citizens were extremely welcoming towards foreigners, always asking everyone who stopped by about their hometowns.

Situated at the feet of the mountain, Garmoth’s nest resembled the threatening claws of a dragon; four huge and curved spikes made of rock erupted from the ground – so high they seemed to graze at the sky, and eventually, people from Duvencrune decided to build four altars at the base of every claw.

Although no one had ever seen the dragon roaming in the huge nest, citizens still held rituals in order to pray for the God’s benevolence.

«I wonder if we’ll manage to see the altar! Apparently, outsiders can’t personally get too close to it.» Felix excitedly spoke as your group was roaming the city trying to gather informations.

«I wonder why you’re trying to get informations about that cursed thing.» Seungmin said, just for his sentence to end with a pained groan.

It was obvious that you couldn’t walk around the city with Seungmin and Jeongin being tied up without catching attention, and therefore, Hyunjin provided to create an elemental and invisible rope made out of thin air; no one would have been able to see anything, but Seungmin and Jeongin would have felt an incredible pressure on their chest anytime they misbehaved.

«Cursed?» the child of Air nonchalantly echoed.

«Our King said that - » Jeongin started, however, his words were cut short.

«If that’s something Hongjoong said, then I’m not interested in those foul lies.» Hyunjin finished, and the bounty hunters didn’t utter a word for the rest of the day.

«Are you sure you’re okay?» Chris gently questioned you, noticing the fact that you were limping; you weakly nodded at him, but didn’t refuse his offer to link your arm with his.

Although you wanted to rest, although your leg begged you to take it easy, you didn’t want to waste any more time, and eventually ended up spending your day roaming through the city.

Few days later, not only your leg was almost completely healed thanks to some local weird looking herb, but you could effectively walk for hours without limping.

«What’s the plan for today?» Chris asked with a yawn as you were having breakfast in one of the inns of the city.

«At this point, we should directly ask around about Sulien,» you answered, referring to the fact that you didn’t manage to learn anything useful during the time you already spent in the city.

«I could go to the town’s market,» Felix eagerly said, and judging by the excitement in his eyes, you knew that gathering informations wasn’t his main goal; nevertheless, you nodded at him with a smile.

«Seungmin and Jeongin will come with us,» Hyunjin added, gesturing to himself and Felix, and you nodded, as your eyes stopped on the two bounty hunters occasionally joke to themselves every now and then while listening to you; although you didn’t know what exactly happened when you passed out, you still decided not to inquire on the reason why they were silently following your group without trying to escape once.

Changbin – who had been focused on sheepishly eating his breakfast, suddenly groaned in pain, as if he had been kicked right under the table by a smiling Felix, «Yeah, uh, I – I think I’ll check the town’s market as well.» he simply said, leaving you and Chris to investigate on your own.

Although the city of Duvencrune was on top of a mountain and therefore constantly under the sun, the constant and gentle breeze made the days not too hot; you had to admit, it would have been considered romantic, even, the fact that you and Chris found a way to chat and laugh together while keeping close to each other, and the fact that you were sometimes exchanged for a couple definitely didn’t help your attempts to stop your imagination from roaming free.

For your sake, you decided to ignore the fact that Chris had stopped denying the fact, even though the small spark of hope about Chris liking you as well seemed to be already ignited in your soul.

«Okay, matey, the next person around our age we see it’s gonna be our target.» Chris sighed, probably as tired as you were about hearing that apparently, no one knew about Sulien’s whereabouts; you nodded at him, glad about the fact that apparently, luck was on your side, since as soon as you turned into an alley, a boy around your age walked right out of it, almost bumping into the two of you in the process.

Even thought both you and Chris apologized, the boy didn’t say anything, and simply nodded once in recognition without uttering a single word.

«Excuse me,» you added, taking advantage of the fact that he was still standing there, «we’re looking for Sulien, do you -» however, before you could finish your sentence, the boy’s eyes widened, and he quickly walked away from both you and Chris.

«Well, at least that wasn’t a “I don’t know her”.» Chris commented, and you could only nod in exasperation, mumbling a weak «oh, sink me,» which immediately made Chris laugh.

The two of you decided to spend the next few hours strolling around the city, your mission to ask about Sulien to people long forgotten, and hoping that your friends managed to have more luck than you did.

As the two of you were walking in front a residential area, however, Chris stopped you by a firm but gentle hold on your elbow, silently signalling you to look towards your left as soon as you locked your eyes with his.

In the middle of the alleyway, you noticed the boy you ran into few hours earlier now talking with another boy who must have been the same age as him, before eventually; they noticed you as well.

«Do we run away?» you quickly whispered to Chris, as you noticed that they were now walking towards you, easily closing the distance that separated you.

«Of course not, fireball.» he confidently whispered back, just in time for the two boys to stop in front of you.

«My brother told me an interesting story,» one of them started, «why would you look for Sulien?» he inquired, standing almost protectively in front of the boy you met few hours earlier; however, before you could answer, the latter mumbled something at the other’s ear, and his expression immediately softened.

«You’re right, Jisung.» he gently spoke, before addressing you in his usual harsh way. «Come with us.»

Chris followed them without the hint of hesitation, and instinctively, you reached out to hold his hand; whether you did it to silently tell him to be more careful, whether you did it because you needed a little bit of comfort in front of that strange and unpredictable situation, definitely wasn’t important, since Chris wordlessly and immediately intertwined his fingers with yours, while keeping his proud gaze up ahead.

Jisung and his brother – which eventually introduced as Minho, led you through a series of empty alleyways, just to stop to arrive at what appeared to be an abandoned shed; there weren’t proper doors or windows, just few parts of a rotten wall which seemed to magically sustain a rooftop.

Chris was standing right next to you, your silent anxiety mirrored by his tense posture.

«No one will overhear our conversation, now.» Minho spoke as he blankly stared at you, as if he was waiting for you to answer to his previous question.

«Someone told us Sulien managed to meet Garmoth.» you explained with a weak voice, cautiously glancing around as if you expected to fall in another ambush.

«And that “someone” is Kim Hongjoong?» he spat back, making your knees feel weak.

The fact that Minho knew about Hongjoong could only mean one thing: you were late.

«That’s not something you need to know.» Chris quickly spoke in your defence, but Minho sneered, taking a confident step in front of his brother.

«I believe you are forgetting that we are the one with the informations you need.» he smirked triumphally, pointing to himself and Jisung with his index finger.

Tightening your hold around Chris’ hand, you realized that at that point, there wasn’t much you could do; the fact that Minho and Jisung seemed to know about Hongjoong’s plan meant that the only thing you could do was to be as honest as you could.

«I am Hongjoong’s daughter,» you admitted, ignoring Chris’ grip tightening on your hand, «however, the informations don’t come directly from him; you can verify yourself that there’s a – that Hongjoong is looking for me, but we don’t… exactly work together.» you quickly glanced to your right, satisfied with Chris’ quick nod of approval at your explanation.

Once again, you saw Jisung leaning towards Minho, mumbling something to his hear; Minho seemed to be lost in thoughts for few seconds, before he eventually nodded.

«We can help you,» Minho spoke, crossing his arms in front of his chest «but at one condition: take us with you.»

CHAPTER IV

«Don’t get me wrong, but - did we really need to pick up more strays?» as you and your friends sat in Minho and Jisung’s small kitchen, Seungmin questioned the decision to bring both of them along with you.

«Aren’t you one as well, Seungmin?» you immediately retorted, effortlessly making the assassin stop talking.

Minho and Jisung both welcomed you and the others in their house, calmly explaining to you that Sulien – the woman you were desperately looking for during the past days, had passed away many years before your arrival.

«I hope this is the part where you tell us that you still have her notes or whatever she used to summon Garmoth.» Chris’ tone hid a hint of exasperation as his mismatched eyes were locked on Minho, who simply answered with a brief nod.

«We will help you, but we need a proof that you’ll take us with you.» Minho repeated himself, and you furrowed your brows.

«Why would you want to leave that badly? This place seems pretty safe.» Hyunjin absently questioned, not really paying attention to the answer, since he didn’t get one in the first place.

«It’s… personal.» Minho said, and you understood that both him and Jisung weren’t going to trust neither you nor the others that easily – not that you could blame them.

«Here, take this.» with a quick movement, you unclasped one of your daggers from the leather harness around your left thigh; the sheath was embroided with the same golden pattern of the hilt.

«Wait,» Changbin jolted on his chair, but you easily stopped him while briefly shaking your head.

«It was my mother’s,» you explained, pushing the dagger towards Minho and Jisung by making it slide on the table, «that’s the only thing I can use to prove our good intentions.»

Once again, Jisung reached out to mumble something against Minho’s ear, who listened patiently; the latter briefly nodded at him, before reaching out to grab your dagger.

«Wait, I got distracted, who cooked dinner?» Changbin questioned, quickly preventing you from eating a mouthful of delicious looking stew by gently holding your wrist. «It was me!» Jeongin innocently replied, and Changbin’s eyebrows furrowed; as if the young assassin understood what the child of Water was implying, he quickly rummaged through the pockets of his jacket, proudly placing a small sealed bottle on the table.

«It’s not poisoned! See? The bottle is sealed!» Jeongin spoke with a big smile, and Seungmin hid his face in his hands with a groan; although the two assassins had made it clear that they suddenly didn’t want to kill you anymore, Changbin was still extremely wary of them, often hanging around with the assassins just to keep an eye on them.

«Should I test it for poison?» Seungmin innocently questioned, and Changbin snorted in disbelief.

«No, it’s too risky - you might not die. I’ll do it.» still faintly holding your wrist with one hand, Changbin hesitantly tasted the stew, just to confirm that – indeed, it was not poisoned.

Both Minho and Jisung were looking at each of you – each of your reactions to what just happened, with curious and incredulous faces; however, since by now, it was completely normal to you, you didn’t pay too much attention to it.

«If you’ll come with us, you’ll find out that nothing goes according to plan with this group.» Hyunjin addressed them with his usual tone laced with amusement.

«Because you’re there, right Hyunjin?» Felix immediately questioned, and the bard silently answered with a playful wink.

With a heavy sigh, you did your best to focus on the happiness you felt about eating a traditional recipe from the Cursed Kingdom, not thinking about how stressful the trip ahead of you was going to be.

The plan was rather simple: you would have taken advantage of the monthly local festival in order to sneak into Garmoth’s nest.

«People will be focused on lightning up lanterns, and if everything goes according to plan, no one will pay attention to us.» Minho explained; of course, in order to reach the altars in the first place, you definitely couldn’t use the main route.

The downhill towards Garmoth’s nest was a wide path which started from the city; it was full of twists and turns, not to mention that the natural location of the town made said path very easy to watch over – making people driven by their own curiosity easily refrain in fear of a possible sanction.

«There’s a passage,» Minho explained, as he unfolded on the wooden table a rough sketch of what seemed to be a map of Duvencrune, «it’s wide enough for us to walk without obstacles and impediments, and most importantly, no one uses it anymore.»

«Aren’t there any guards?» Jeongin curiously questioned him, and both Minho and Jisung shook their heads.

«Duvencrune’s citizens are deeply devoted, and consider everything regarding Garmoth as holy; no one would sneak in.» as Minho spoke, your eyes were focused on him, trying to guess why would both him and Jisung help a group of perfect strangers.

«What if we get caught?» Felix asked, and Minho simply gave him a mischievous smile.

«Despite the fact that for centuries the city had been devoted to the God of Fire, this city was designed by thieves - there’s always an escape route.»

The following days were divided into strolling around the city and spending your time safely nestled in Minho’s house, carefully plotting on what you had to do.

«Travellers are taught that there are a total of four altars at Garmoth’s nest, which is in fact, a lie,» Minho explained one windy evening, immediately claiming your attention as he placed on the coffee table a small box filled with strange looking bright red flowers; «there’s another altar – the one actually used for rituals, which you can’t see from up here.»

«And the flowers?» Felix questioned, and Hyunjin nonchalantly stood up from his chair and reached out to grab one of the flowers, just to walk towards the opposite way of the room, right in front of the open window.

«They are called fire silk flowers,» Minho explained once again, «these flowers and these notes are everything Sulien has left us.»

Out the corner of your eye, you could see Hyunjin scoff while hiding a smug smile, but you did not pay too much attention to it.

«Sulien… Fire silk flowers, huh?» the bard quietly mumbled to himself, as he peeled off a bright red petal from the flower in his hands, «I say you haven’t lost your touch with your beloved illusions, Dragon.» Hyunjin pretended to run a hand through his hair, but instead, he tossed the petal out of the window, entrusting the wind to make it fly all the way to Karanda.

As a moonless night was draped over the sky, your group had once again returned at the inn. Lying on the soft mattress of your room, you admitted to yourself that the company that had come to be created was as bizarre as much as it was pleasant.

Changbin was by now basically part of your family, and you often seeked for his words of advice; you found comforting how he had the habit to keep an eye on you, even if just to silently ask you if you were okay. It was clear that his deep and great esteem for Hongjoong was the main reason for his resentment; however, whenever the matter was mentioned, Changbin always did his best to speak only of the positive events that came to his memory.

Felix and Chris were definitely fun to be around; although sometimes you couldn’t understand what they were exactly talking about due the uniqueness of Iliya’s dialect, they provided to lighten up the mood quite often.

Felix’s personality was as gentle and soothing as moonlight, and you could easily figure out that he must have been a respected and beloved Prince; although he has only been nice and friendly to you, sometimes, you could notice him looking at the horizon with an extremely lone gaze, and – you reluctantly had to admit, it made you feel lonely as well.

Chris was not only the stark opposite of his friend, but his behaviour kept confusing you to no end; his teasing remarks alternated with gentle and soft gazes and sometimes, you suspected for his rivalry tone to be just a facade.

Not to mention, you realized that you didn’t feel attracted to Chris just because he was extremely handsome, but for his whole personality as well; it wasn’t difficult to realize that sometimes, the others purposely let the two of you spend some time alone, and you didn’t fail to notice how you started to look forward to those moments.

The realization that eventually, both Chris and Felix would have returned to Iliya Island while you didn’t even know if you would manage to survive striked in, making you realize that feelings that you started developing for the boy who was taking a hold of your heart as slowly and as steadily as a high tide at noon were probably fleeting and meaningless.

Hyunjin was, essentially, an enigma. He made it clear more than once that he loathed men with every inch of his soul, statement which always made you giggle because: «aren’t you one as well?»

Sometimes, you had the feeling that Hyunjin was not completely human; he would sing about lost tales and lost battles that seemed to have happened centuries ago, and still, from the way he talked about those events, it seemed like he had been a direct witness. Moreover, there was the part where Hyunjin used one of the forbidden spell without being affected by it.

Seungmin and Jeongin were probably the biggest surprise: they went from trying to forcefully drag you back to the Cursed Kingdom to run errands under Changbin’s order. More than once, they stated that they wanted to help you due to a change of heart.

«We are not children of Nature, but our parents are.» Seungmin explained, «as you know, only children of Nature are corrupted by Hongjoong’s power, we just blindly follow the ideals of our loved ones.»

Minho and Jisung were group’s new entry, and you wondered if you would have managed to get along. Minho was a child of Fire, just like you, and he seemed really determined.

Jisung wasn’t a child of Nature; you wondered if the fact that he only seemed to talk with Minho was selective mutism or he was just really shy, but you found yourself hoping that one day, he would trust you and the others enough to let you hear his voice.

“Why am I looking so forward to the future?” you questioned yourself with a silent scoff as you tossed and turned in bed yet another time. To say that the future was uncertain was a euphemism, and even thought you tried not to let anyone else notice, you were terrified of it.

As you were busy tossing and turning in bed, Hyunjin was quietly strolling through the inn’s dim lit hallways, busy caressing with his fingertips the texture of the fire silk petal that the wind carried back to him not too long ago.

“Let their fate do its course,” the message Karanda sent him was simple; however, the lack of further explanations didn’t seem to please him.

«What did you see, Karanda, and why don’t you want to tell me?» Hyunjin breathed softly, his words - barely above a whisper, unable to reach his long time friend.

Too lost in thought, Hyunjin didn’t notice that the door on his left was suddenly opening before he found himself being roughly yanked inside a room and his back harshly pressed against the sturdy wall.

Felix was looking at him, and angry scowl painted on his graceful features, and Hyunjin furrowed his eyes in doubt, since he had never seen such emotions portrayed on his face; quickly glancing around the room, he noticed that Felix was indeed alone.

«You know, if you wanted a midnight tryst with me you could have asked.» Hyunjin hissed, a hint of irritation hidden in his usual tone, as he quickly brushed away the firm grip the Prince still had on his shoulders.

Felix scoffed, «You sound a little too confident, for someone who has been found out.» he spoke, happy about the fact that for a second, Hyunjin’s composed and stoic face didn’t seem to be able to hide his surprise. «The trees I can chit-chat with just told me an interesting story, wanna hear it?» Felix went on, his usual patient and gentle behaviour suddenly nowhere to be seen as his eyes were a bright shade of green – as he was probably still trying to communicate with nature.

«What do you know?» it was clear to Hyunjin that at this point, he couldn’t deny to be sent by Karanda herself, he just hoped for Felix not to be the kind of person that kisses and tell.

«Everything.» Felix immediately answered while crossing his arms in front of his chest, making the bard hiss a frustrated sigh. «But actually… I think I have something to talk you about.»

The Prince sat on his bed, tilting his head towards his left and silently inviting Hyunjin to sit next to him; needless to say, the bard complied, curiosity having the best of him. Apparently, Felix had received a curious order from Offin herself.

«Did she talk to you?» Hyunjin’s eyebrows lifted in surprise; for all he knew, the Goddess of Earth had refused to meet her children since Jongho’s mind had been corrupted, could she have changed her mind all of a sudden?

However, Felix shook his head, «The trees carried her words; apparently, I should “help the disguised harpy”.» he added, his tone suddenly sounding gentler, as his eyes returned to their original warm colour.

«That would be me.» Hyunjin softly mumbled.

«I know, I’ve heard so many things in so little time, I thought I was about to go insane,» Felix whined, placing his elbows on his knees in order to hide his face in his hands; «the thing is, the Goddess of Earth gave the both of us an order.»

Although you were certain that sooner or later, everyone managed to fall asleep, you still felt awake as ever; you stretched your limbs with a soft sigh, before eventually sitting up with a groan, all the chances to get a good night sleep forgotten as you walked towards the wall hanger just to wear – over your nightdress, the linen robe that the innkeeper had provided you with.

As you quietly walked through the small corridor attached to the rooms, the faint light coming from the cosy living room situated downstairs was the only signal that someone else was awake; hesitantly leaning in, you noticed that Chris was sitting in front of the fireplace, silently carving something in a small piece of wood while seeming lost in thoughts.

Secretly smiling to yourself, you walked down the stairs, wondering why the boy seemed not to have noticed you, yet. Approaching from his left side, you stopped right behind one of the wooden chairs.

«Can’t sleep?» you gently questioned, making your presence known and therefore, making Chris jolt his head towards you; could he have been so lost in thoughts that he actually didn’t notice you?

Chris briefly shook his head, «How about you?» he questioned back immediately, «the moon isn’t out tonight, but I guess it’s still pretty late.»

«Changbin snores, he… woke me up.» you lied, making Chris scoff with an amused smile; although it was easy to figure out that you were lying, the boy still respected your silence.

«He doesn’t snore loud enough to be heard next door, but keep your secrets, fireball.» he joked.

The only sound beside your soft breaths was Chris’s carving knife skilfully moving over the small birch fragment, and curiously enough, it seemed to work as a strange lullaby for you; although Chris didn’t try to make conversation, he openly moved his chair so that he could face you directly.

«Where did you learn?» you curiously asked him, trying to avoid the sudden temptation to go back to sleep.

«It’s just an old habit,» he said, «Felix is actually better than me, you know, he’s naturally predisposed to it.» he admitted with a brief chuckle; you decided to move from where you were, just to sit on the chair right next to his, so that you could take a closer look to what he was doing Once again, he adjusted his position in order to satisfy your curiosity.

«I was thinking about the future, that’s why I couldn’t sleep.» you quietly admitted after few more minutes of comfortable silence, ignoring the fact that sharing your thoughts with the boy seemed to be incredibly easy, and Chris gave you an encouraging nod, which made you keep talking, «and I’m terrified, because I don’t know what will happen – what if the whole ritual turns out to be a failure?»

«There’s a possibility,» Chris stopped his motions altogether, placing the carving knife on the coffee table; «but we’ll be there as well, we’ll figure something out.» he gently spoke. With soft sigh, you nodded at him, biting the inside of your cheek as you felt your eyes swell up with tears; at the same moment, Chris’ eyes widened, a faint trace of panic flashing into his eyes.

«Oh, sink me – don’t cry, fireball, that really places me in a bad position.» he nervously rubbed his neck as he tried to joke, and you instinctively laughed breathlessly.

«Why would that put you in a bad position?» you inquired, missing how the hint of a blush was starting to colour his cheeks.

«I really don’t know how to console you when you cry.» he admitted while shyly scratching his nape, and you forcefully held back a smile, remembering the day when he offered you his cloak as you cried your eyes out on your mother’s grave.

«When it happens, you can simply do this.» taking advantage of a little outburst of courage, you adjusted your position on the chair; you gradually leaned towards Chris, until your forehead touched his shoulder. The fact that you immediately felt him tense up made you smile to yourself, now more aware than ever that his teasing behaviour was definitely only a facade.

Although the position you were in was uncomfortable, you felt relieved as soon as Chris started to relax; you felt gentle and hesitant scratches against your nape, and you started to relax as well.

At some point of the night, both you and Chris decided to sit on the carpet, your knees touching, as you asked him to tell you more of the adventures he and Felix had.

«I’ve been really curious about something,» you used your index finger to quickly tap twice under your left eye, «does it hurt?» you shyly questioned him, and Chris simply shook his head.

«Not really, you can touch it if you want to.» he offered, and you shyly nodded at him; your hand hesitantly inched closer to his face, with the intention to brush your fingertips against his scar as gently as you could.

As your hand gradually got closer to his face, Chris patiently sat without moving, as if he was waiting for you to realize something; only when your fingertips were almost touching his soft eyelashes and still, Chris didn’t blink nor react, you realized.

«It doesn’t see anything, not anymore.» Chris spoke, his tone unreadable; you leaned towards him, unable to focus on anything else beside the boy in front of you.

In that moment, some little things you haven’t really been paying attention to seemed to be so obvious. Felix would generally stand at Chris’ left side; if at the beginning you thought it was just a habit, you realized that it was because Chris was entrusting his sight to Felix, which seemed to naturally act accordingly.

«Of course, I can do the little trick that children of Water do,» Chris tilted his head, giving you a smug smile, «but after few minutes, it gets quite uncomfortable, you know - your eyes keep seeing different things.» he admitted, and you adverted your gaze, realizing that it was probably the reason why Chris lost so easily to you the first time you met.

«When did it happen? Why didn’t Vell heal you?» you questioned, incredulous; by your family’s tales, you were convinced that the Gods were kind and understanding. The fact that Chris has mismatched eyes was the clear proof that he had died already, so why didn’t he get his sight back?

«Uh, two months before meeting you, I think?» Chris vaguely explained with his eyebrows furrowed, as if he couldn’t exactly pinpoint the day he lost part of his sight, «Vell doesn’t really like humans, especially since… Well, the whole Hongjoong issue,» he explained further, «he simply told me one of his sons has strayed to the wrong path, and I had to – get rid of him.»

Despite the whirlwind of thoughts running through your brain, a faint «Oh.» was everything you found yourself able to say.

«I’m sorry-»

«It’s okay,» you said, trying your best to come up with a convincing smile, «that means, what I have to do it’s pretty intuitive, isn’t it?»

«There has to be another way, sweetheart, I’m sure we’ll find it.» Chris didn’t directly answer your question, settling for tightly hold your hand.

Around the middle of the morning, Hyunjin knocked twice at your door.

«Come on, Princess, it’s time to go.» he called out; however, as he still didn’t hear any sign of an answer from you, he simply rolled his eyes in annoyance.

He simply brushed his fingertips in front of the keyhole, only for a loud and sharp “click” to be heard; the bard walked into your room, sighing with his hands on his hips at the sight of you being still asleep.

«It’s almost lunchtime, did you sneak out to attend a ball overnight?» he teased, giggling at the groan you answered with. «Wake up, sleepy head,» Hyunjin whispered while sitting on the edge of the mattress and gently shaking your shoulder; on the other hand, you simply groaned again, turning towards the other side.

«Five more minutes, Seonghwa.» you mumbled back out of habitude, unconsciously trying to swat away Hyunjin’s hand.

As you moved, you unconsciously brushed few strands of hair from your face, making it now fall back on the soft pillow; Hyunjin shortly widened his eyes in surprise, and his fingertips moved a strand of hair behind your ear.

«Now, this is interesting.» he smirked while holding between his fingertips the silver feather dangling from your earring. Hyunjin smiled at himself, remembering the day where Karanda gave such a prestigious gift to your mother; of course, he had wondered if Hongjoong had kept it with him, but he was surprised not to have noticed that the feather has been with you for all this time.

«Troublesome child of Fire,» he whispered, his eyes briefly flashing a dark shade of grey, «although the wind can’t guide you, it can guide me to you.»

«We’ll shortly split the group in two,» Minho announced as soon as you and the others arrived in front of his door, «Jisung, Jeongin and Changbin will secure the horses right out of the nest; once we’re done we’ll need to run away really quickly, but if we all leave now towards the same direction, we’re just claim more unwanted attention.»

«I’ll go with them as well,» Felix announced out of the blue, «I can easily hide our presence or hide our traces – I mean they can do that as well, but it would take them much more time.» Minho and Jisung shortly glanced at each other, before nodding at the Prince’s offer.

As soon as the others started following Jisung, Minho headed the opposite way, followed by you, Chris and Hyunjin; the young boy expertly walked you through the crowd who was constantly facing the opposite direction, busy gazing at the numerous lanterns lightning up the sky.

Once again, you were grateful about the fact that somewhere during your stroll, Chris’ hand tightly enveloped yours and didn’t let go.

«Uh, wanna hold mine?» Seungmin whispered to Hyunjin, holding his hand out as a joke, eventually gotten used to yours and Chris’ behaviour.

«Please, hold my hand so I can’t make them forcefully kiss.» Hyunjin hissed back, and the assassin let out a breathless laugh, as he placed both his hands against his nape.

Minho definitely wasn’t joking when he said that there was a somewhat secret path leading to Garmoth’s nest which was not used anymore. Turning right after the building containing a small pharmacy, you could see easy access to steep stairs carved into the side of the mountain; said steps, as well as being steep, had been naturally eroded by time, making them even smoother and more dangerous. Needless to say, you could easily figure out why no one was using that path in the first place.

«Say, you’re trying to kills us?» Seungmin questioned Minho, as your small group was forced to proceed in line, both hands gripping the rope attached to the side of the mountain as you descended with crossed steps.

«I wouldn’t dream of it,» Minho replied, «it would be useless, knowing that Hyunjin could easily save you.»

«Speaking of which, couldn’t you give us a lift?» Chris questioned, only for Hyunjin to scoff, clearly offended by the boy’s proposal.

«Did you take me for one of those domesticated gryphons?» he retorted, referring to the fact that some merchants transported their goods from a city to another through the sky.

It was as if you had been descending steps for hours, and still, your path looked never-ending.

«Are the others going to follow the same route?» Chris questioned, and Minho shook his head.

«They’ll take the other path, they will probably arrive before us.»

In the end, Minho’s words turned out to be the truth. Jisung’s group was patiently waiting for you while comfortably sitting in front of the entrance of a narrow tunnel, collectively raising their eyebrows at the fact that as soon as you touched solid ground, you, Seungmin and Chris knelt on it while mumbling random “thank you’s” towards it.

«I really don’t want to experience something like that anymore.» you spoke, both Seungmin and Chris quickly agreeing with you.

«Quit being dramatic, it wasn’t that bad.» Hyunjin simply shrugged, making Felix silently sneer.

The tunnel in which you had to pass was not particularly long; in fact, as soon as you entered, you could already see its end. A few drops of water occasionally fell from the rocky ceiling, echoing in the small puddles located in the uneven mixture of gravel and mud you were walking over.

Although you expected that Garmoth’s nest would look like a lot of things, you definitely did not expect that you wouldn’t have been able to see almost anything due to a dense fog obstructing your sight.

Minho and Jisung – followed by the others, stopped right in front a wide altar which seemed to be made out of marble, before placing the box containing the fire silk flowers on top of it.

«This is the fifth altar; we have to place the flowers, and then light the candles.» Minho explained, before tilting his head towards the sky; «you can’t see anything due to the fog, but Duvencrune is right there.

No one would be able to see this altar, due to its position.» following his gaze and wrapping your head around what you had learned about the city’s geography during the past days, you deduced he was right.

Absently nodding at his words, you did your best to ignore the fact that your heart was racing due to the anxiety you were feeling; with secure steps, you closed the small distance between you and the altar, waving your hand towards the lone candle on top of it in order to set it alight.

«Should we start?» you nervously questioned, reaching out to grab the box of flowers.

«I think it’s not wise for all of us to walk in there,» Hyunjin hurriedly spoke, as he saw how everyone was ready to follow you.

«Yeah, what if Garmoth thinks Hongjoong sent us?» Jeongin quickly added, and as much you hated to think about it, you had to admit to yourself that it was the truth.

«You can’t possibly think to go by yourself.» Chris questioned you with his voice laced with worry, breathing an exasperated sigh as you answered with a court nod.

«Probably we should calm down and think about a better solution?» Felix proposed, and you shook your head.

«But I am calm, really. Don’t I look calm?» you nervously spoke, trying to hide the tremor of your hands while holding the flower box a little tighter, «My decision to walk in there alone is a calm, rational and reasonable decision -»

«I’ll go with her,» Minho stated, interrupting your nervous blabbering and quickly claiming everyone’s attention, «we’re both children of Fire, we’ll be fine.»

As strange as it sounded, the fog seemed to dissipate the more you and Minho ventured towards the center of the nest.

«Is it usually this foggy down here?» you questioned him, scattering few flowers on one of the altar as Minho effortlessly lightened up the candle.

«It’s… not.» he truthfully answered, making you feel as if your throat just tightened out of nervousness.

If Garmoth’s nest looked incredibly vast from above, now that you were walking through it, it never seemed to end; the soil had not been cleared, and there were small areas where with wild grass was growing right next to clearly burnt soil. The four altars were very far from each other, and if from the top of the mountain – the city of Duvencrune, the spikes of rock clearly looked like a dragon’s claw, seen from below it was impossible to deduce it, as no matter how far you could look up, it was impossible to see their end.

Although the others were nervously trying to spot both you and Minho through the thick layer of fog, Hyunjin sat on the marble altar with crossed legs, his chin delicately placed on his palm, as he wore an amused expression.

Of course, his sight was definitely better than the sight of a human’s, reason why he had no trouble keeping an eye on the two of you.

Not to mention, he definitely had no trouble to notice how Garmoth was casually sitting on top a ledge erupting from one of the rocky spikes, watching over you and Minho with a pleased smile.

Hyunjin sighed, tempted to create a barrier wide enough to prevent everyone – beside your group, to notice the dragon that would have soon made his entrance, however, Garmoth seemed to already have thought of it; sharpening his gaze, Hyunjin noticed a faint but constant movement of air, as if it couldn’t move freely, and the bard smiled to himself.

Garmoth really seemed to already have thought about everything.

«That’s the last one.» Minho announced as he lightened up the fifth candle, and at once, the flowers caught fire as well. Instinctively, you took Minho’s hand out of fear, and he held yours just as tightly; although he never doubted Sulien’s words, he was still kind of doubtful about the simplicity that apparently was needed in order to summon a God.

«What now?» you nervously questioned as the two of you hesitantly started to make your way back towards the center of the nest. “Please, don’t say something like ‘we have to do a blood sacrifice’ or some other creepy things”, you mentally added.

«The notes don’t say anything else.» Minho hastily answered, but before he could even think about voicing any other thought, a sudden loud and menacing roar seemed to shake the sky, and the fog dissipated as if it was absorbed into the ground. Garmoth made its regal appearance; he flew over your heads in a predatory way before landing, the impact of his arrival against the ground was enough to make you and Minho jolt back from inertia.

«Lixie,» Hyunjin gently called out, and Chris shortly furrowed his eyebrows, puzzled at the unusual nickname suddenly used for his friend. Although Felix didn’t verbally answer him, he created a barrier out of vines and climbing plants, “shielding them from the Dragon’s sight” – as if earlier Garmoth didn’t eagerly wave at Hyunjin who blatantly ignored him, but leaving enough gaps so that they could still see you and Minho.

Garmoth was huge, and no matter how far you looked, you couldn’t see the end of his tail; in that moment, Hongjoong’s tales about meeting the Dragon came to your mind, and you silently cursed yourself for saying that he was “definitely exaggerating how big a dragon could be”. The dragon’s scales were faint red and definitely looked impossible to graze; his pointed claws dug deep furrows in the ground as he slowly approached you and Minho, who still kept holding hands as if your life depended of it. Garmoth’s eyes were wary, and his eye colour kept changing, making it seem like you were gazing to a burning fire.

With a loud gulp, Minho let go of your hand, slowly positioning himself behind you, as to use you as a shield if something went wrong; the thing was, you did just the same. Both you and Minho kept walking backwards, hiding one behind the other, as an amused dragon, who was clearly having the time of his life, slowly chased you.

«Why are my children cowering in fear?» Garmoth spoke, and although he didn’t actually voice any of his words, Minho’s shaky fingertips immediately intertwining with yours were a way to let you understand that the both of you were able to hear him through your thoughts.

Taking a deep breath, you quickly glanced at Minho, before looking at Garmoth once again: «We are incredibly honoured and utterly blessed to gaze up-»

«-at your magnificent… magnificence, oh Garmoth… the magnificent.» Minho somewhat finished your sentence, as the Dragon was now slowly pacing around the two of you with slow and menacing step.

Judging by the gentle sway of his tail, Garmoth was definitely having the time of his life by seeing you shaking like leaves in the wind – Hyunjin knew that.

«You flatter me, young flames. However,» Garmoth’s powerful voice roared again within your head, and you instinctively closed your eyes because Hongjoong never said it would have been this unpleasant, «all this unnecessary flattery makes me think you came here to steal something from me.»

«No!» you and Minho simultaneously exclaimed, «No, no, no! We - we wouldn’t!»

«I came here – we came here, to seek for advice, and to warn you! Hongjoong is trying to-» you tried explain the situation, but Garmoth’s sudden annoyed huff of smoke made you froze mid-sentence.

Could it be that you offended him somehow? “Maybe I shouldn’t have said we came to warn him, he’s a God… He probably knew,” you thought.

However, Garmoth rightfully interpreted your silence as being scared, and even though he loved humans and enjoyed meeting them in his dragon dorm every once a while, he realized that the matter you were to discuss was too important for you to face it while being that scared.

The Dragon lifted his face to the sky, and another powerful roar echoed within the nest; you and Minho instinctively shrieked, your hands melting together at this point – consider your hold on each other, as you instinctively closed your eyes in fear.

Garmoth’s body seemed to vanish in a whirlwind of fire, leaving some scattered dust on the soil, and as you and Minho opened your eyes once again, you were faced with the same fog you had seen right before lightening up the altars.

«So, that was it?» you weakly questioned, «we didn’t accomplish anything?» tears of frustration were gathering at the corner of your eyes, but before Minho could say something to console you, Garmoth’s voice spoke from behind you.

«Don’t be that sad! We have a lot to talk about, and very little time to do it.» at once, both you and Minho snapped your head behind yourself as quickly as you could, surprised at the unfamiliar man now looking at you with a proud and yet amused smile. «It’s still me, I figured you would feel less threatened about my human form!» Garmoth gave the both of you a dazzling smile, before reaching out in order to loop his arms around your neck; you stood at his right side, while Minho on his left. It was probably a secret thought that the both of you shared, but you were glad about the fact that the Dragon’s voice wasn’t echoing through your head anymore.

At that point, you weren’t sure that what was happening was real; a man, who claimed to be Garmoth and who had insanely handsome features, was patiently listening to everything you knew about Hongjoong and his corruption.

Of course, you definitely couldn’t doubt about his words, since his looks clearly gave away the fact that he was not human. Everything from his bright red eyes – which still kept burning as a lively flame, to the warmth spreaded from his honey coloured skin, to the small horns erupting from the sides of his forehead told you that he was – in fact, the God of Fire himself.

«His behaviour definitely must be Kzarka’s fault.» Garmoth, concluded, after few long minutes of silence.

«The God of Corruption?» Minho questioned, «Wasn’t he sealed away?»

«By my heel, he still is!» Garmoth exclaimed, his authoritative and powerful voice roaring even in his human form. «However, me and the Goddess of Air deduced that fragments of his aura are scattered in this world, and sadly Hongjoong found not just one, but two of them.»

«Is it that bad?» Minho curiously questioned him, as you stood there, unable to voice any of your question because you were too afraid of the answer.

«It is.» Garmoth simply nodded, «If a human were to find one fragment of his soul, he would die on the spot; when I brought him back to life, I gave Hongjoong part of my power, making him even stronger than any average children of Nature… That’s probably why he managed to create his Kingdom of puppets. Kzarka must have sealed away his soul, but not his powers.»

«How can I help him? There has to be a way for me to save him! Not only him, but Seonghwa, Wooyoung and -»

«You shouldn’t linger where there is no hope, young flame.» Garmoth interrupted your sentence, his gentle and soothing voice making the words die in your throat.

«What do you mean?» again, tears gathered at the corner of your eyes, and the Dragon easily collected them on the tip of his fingertips as he brushed your cheekbones almost in an affectionate manner.

«Anything Kzarka touches and corrupts is doomed to wither; it pains me to tell you but, all is left about your family is nothing but empty shells.» it was as if someone had just slapped you with a bucket of ice; as Garmoth noticed that both you and Minho seemed to refuse to speak, he went on. «I am sure someone is way better than me at singing old tales,» he chuckled to himself as he glanced towards where Hyunjin and the others were safely hidden, «but, when we faced Kzarka, many years ago, the cost to defeat him had been great – even unimaginable for someone as young and small as the two of you. We spent time, love and dedication to create humanity, just for a single God to corrupt half of it, and even though Kzarka managed to destroy almost every God that roamed this world, the four who survived are - we’re still facing the consequences of his powers after centuries - no, probably much more than that.»

«Your task is very simple, however, I am sure it would create further turmoil within your soul.» Garmoth took a confident step in front of the two of you, turning around to face you once again; he faintly outstretched the palm of his hand, and closed it around what seemed to be one of his own scales. Fire started erupting from his hand following a precise shape, and after few seconds, a sword materialized from the burning fire.

Garmoth handed it over to you, «Use this to stab Hongjoong. If you’re lucky, you’ll see him one last time, before he’ll be consumed by his own power – burning from flames to dust, returning to me and therefore facing my judgement.»

As if someone else was moving your body instead of your own will, you emotionlessly reached out to grab at the helm and the sheath of the sword, clutching it against your chest. Chris’ words about his duty being to get rid of Seonghwa rather gave you a hint about what Garmoth would have told you to do, but still, you couldn’t believe it.

Most importantly, would you be able to do it?

«I am afraid our time is up, young flames.» Garmoth smiled, ruffling Minho’s hair in an affectionate manner, «I saw few humans do it to their young kiddos, it’s not that bad indeed!» he chuckled to himself. «I can’t really tell you anything about your future, but – well, Minho, take care of your sister for me as well; and believe me, you’re going to love your found family.» Garmoth told him, tilting his head towards you as to signal that of course, you had just been appointed as Minho’s relative.

«And you - tell me, how are things with the Prince?» Garmoth questioned, and as if you had been woken up from a strange dream, you furrowed your eyebrows just to stare back at him quizzically, «Your soulmate, of course!» Garmoth added with his signature dazzling smile.

Minho’s wide eyes, matching your incredulity locked with yours.

Felix was your soulmate?

«Thinking about it, I’m sure you’ll be fine. He’s a considerate man – all children of Water are.» he added, and if possible, you were sure that both yours and Minho’s eyes widened even more.

If the Prince was your soulmate, but the Prince was a son of Water, it could only mean that -

«Chris is your soulmate?!» Minho questioned, utterly uncredulous, and you simply stared back at him with your eyes as wide as the moon.

«Yeah, I believe that’s his name for this life.» the Dragon replied with furrowed eyebrows, not understanding why the two of you could be so shocked about the Prince being a son of Water; after all, Karanda had told him that you were indeed travelling together!

Far from where you and Minho stood, however, Hyunjin definitely couldn’t believe his ears; Garmoth really walked in the place revealing things he definitely shouldn’t have revealed.

«Fool of a Dragon.» he spat under his breath, hiding his face into his hands.

After you and Minho bid farewell to Garmoth, and he disappeared in a sudden flash of burning flames, Minho gently took a hold of your hand, leading the two of you towards the others once again.

Despite the fact that you were wordlessly following Minho as if you were in a trance while holding against your chest the enchanted sword, despite the fact that as soon as your friends spotted you, they ran towards the two of you while asking a lot of questions, the only thing you found yourself able to do was to walk towards Chris.

Wordlessly and without making eye contact, you placed your head in the crook of his neck, and he immediately held you, quietly asking what happened, worried about the fact that you had started crying; Chris locked his eyes with Minho, unable to decipher his gaze.

«We’ll explain everything as soon as we’ll be far enough from here; right now we have to flee.» Although everyone was curious about what could have happened to make you react like that, they knew that Minho was right, and the most difficult part of the plan was about to start.

«Do you want to ride with me?» Chris quietly questioned you as he reluctantly let go of you, and you nodded at him; although you just found out that Chris had been lying about his identity, you suspected there was a valid reason for it.

Moreover, most importantly, you didn’t want to be alone.

Few hours later, a more than reassuring distance was between your group and the city of Duvencrune, and as you were camping right under a blanket of stars, you and Minho explained what Garmoth told you – without mentioning about the part where Chris was your soulmate.

Actually, if you were to be honest, Minho explained to the others what happened during your meeting, because since you left the nest, you barely spoke.

«You don’t seem surprised to hear any of that, could it be that you already knew?» Felix quietly questioned Hyunjin, after he made sure that no one else could hear them; Hyunjin simply nodded, his heart tightening at the sight of you politely refusing to eat yet again.

«Don’t meddle yourself with humans affairs too much, for you are not one of them.» Karanda had clearly told him back then, and he was a fool for ignoring her suggestion so blatantly.

«I should have known better.» he melodramatically sighed loudly, ignoring Felix’s questioning gaze; Hyunjin started walking towards you, his hands confidently placed behind his nape.

«Shoo, away from my princess.» he joked, quickly moving his hands to ironically signalling Changbin to move out the way; he took the bowl the man was previously holding before sitting in front of you.

«You have two options, either you eat this by yourself, or I’ll feed you myself,» he heard Chris say, and he forcefully hid an amused smile; he had never seen the Prince trying to make you do anything against your will until now.

Let’s just say that, considered the kind of day you just had, and the fact that it was late night and the last time you ate was probably earlier that morning, he kind of approved Chris trying to make you eat something; for sure, no one among them wanted to see you collapse out of exhaustion.

«I second that!» Hyunjin intervened, nodding at Chris’ thankful gaze, «but if I have to feed you, I’ll make the same stupid noises people have to do while feeding a baby.»

Although Hyunjin’s incredibly serious gaze met your emotionless one, you managed to scoff out of incredulity.

«How can you wait for me to finish eating - aren’t you usually the most famished among all of us?» you weakly questioned back.

However, the perspective of Hyunjin mimicking a horse’s noise as he brought the spoon from the bowl to your mouth definitely did not seem appealing, reason why you reached out, hesitantly taking a hold of the bowl full of stew.

«You seemed to like it last time, I thought it could… cheer you up.» Jeongin hesitantly spoke from the other side of the fireplace, and you found yourself smiling at him.

«So, what’s the plan?» Seungmin questioned the following day.

«Although it’s clear where we have to go, I think we should properly prepare ourselves,» Felix reasonably proposed, «there are nine of us – and Jisung and Minho can’t fight, we definitely can’t barge into the Cursed Kingdom expecting to succeed.» At Felix’s words, Seungmin’s and Jeongin’s ears perked up; immediately, their attention was locked on both Minho and Jisung.

Needless to say, if they already swore that their hostility towards you had disappeared, now it was undeniable; their attention completely shifted on teaching both Minho and Jisung how to properly fight, because «What do you mean that at Duvencrune, people are raised to devote themselves to Garmoth? Oh, you mean you were raised to die young?»

That said, Changbin suggested to not move until the following morning; «It’s a shielded place, no one would see us anyway; as long as we start moving at dawn’s light, we’ll be okay.» he said, and once again, being he the most expert when it came to travelling, you followed his lead.

Although you spent the day mostly laying on the grass and doing absolutely nothing, you were glad about the fact that Chris decided to do the same thing.

«Can I stay with you, or do you want to be alone?» he had questioned, crouching down next to you, and you answered that of course, you didn’t want to be alone.

As the others spend the unexpected day off someone training and someone rearranging the provisions, Chris had patiently sat next to you, listening as you mindlessly emptied the contents of your heart.

Once again, you carefully avoided to mention about the fact that you and him were soulmates and most importantly, you avoided to mention about the fact that – somewhere along your endless talk, your fingers naturally intertwined.

«I know what Garmoth said, I will never have my father and the others back, but… a tiny part of me believes I can.» you said, aware that you probably sounded like an idiot. However, Chris hummed, gently playing with your fingers.

«I don’t think you sound like an idiot,» he shrugged, and for a second you questioned whether you spoke out loud, «they are people you love, it’s only fair for you to want to save them. However… Probably, that’s the best solution, not only for – well, literally the whole known land since we’re constantly on the verge of war, but for them as well?»

Chris noticed that you were glancing at him with a puzzled expression, and so he explained himself; «I am not you, therefore, I will never know the full story like you do, but, when we met Wooyoung, he said that your mother had suffered from an illness after she came in contact with one of the stones. And, if I heard Minho correctly, Garmoth said that their soul is corrupted, or most definitely sealed away. Could it be that maybe, Hongjoong and the others have been suffering for years?»

In the moment your gaze locked with Chris’ mismatched eyes, you definitely felt like an idiot. The fact that they all suffered was undeniable; Hongjoong lost not only his wife – his soulmate, but his own daughter as well.

Wooyoung’s face as he told you that San has lost himself to darkness – therefore forgetting everything about the long years they have been married, was something you definitely could not forget, as well. Each one of your loved ones had lost something that they loved – whether it was a person or just their passion towards their work or hobbies, and still, you felt in the rightful to want to bring them back to you.

Especially, after Wooyoung had explicitly told you that everyone of them had willingly decided to be corrupted in your place, just to give you enough time to grow up and become fully independent. Suddenly, the never-ending training sessions you had to stand for years finally made sense, now that you were looking at your past from another perspective.

“I’m really lucky you’re my soulmate,” you secretly thought, hoping that one day, you would have been able to speak those words as well.

«Princess, can we talk to you?» Minho hesitantly spoke as Jisung was standing next to him, shyly adverting his gaze, as no one really wanted to interrupt the small bubble you and Chris seemed to be trapped in.

Wanting for the three of you to be alone, Minho and Jisung walked to the other side of the small camp, their backs turned towards the others so that no one could see what they were about to do.

«Me and Jisung came to an agreement,» Minho announced, handing your dagger towards you, «we’re returning it.»

«You’re… leaving? But we’re far from any village, at least let us travel together until-»

«Let me explain, please,» Minho quickly added, his voice much more softer than it was the day you first met him, and you noticed how Jisung had lifted his hands as well, signalling you to let his brother explain, «we didn’t know about who you were and the whole… thing you have to face. We simply saw your group as a free ride to leave Duvencrune, however – on our part, things have changed. We are returning the dagger because – if you allow us, we plan to help you and to stay by your side because we’re willing to, not because we’re bound by a trade.»

«Ah,» you sighed, as once again you felt tears gathering at the corner of your eyes; instinctively, you reached out to hug the both of them, mumbling a soft, «I don’t usually cry that much, you just took me by surprise.»

Minho laughed, but most importantly, as faintly as a whisper carried by the wind, you thought you heard Jisung mumble an almost inaudible: «It’s okay.»

Later that night, Felix was the first to keep watch, silently guarding the camp as you and the others were fast asleep.

«You look a little bit too relaxed, you already forgot about our task?» Hyunjin questioned, as he sat next to Felix.

«Of course I didn’t! We’re going to walk straight into Hongjoong’s trap as if it’s not even there.» Felix answered faking enthusiasm, making the bard roll his eyes at him. «Although I’m trying to have faith in them, I can’t help to be worried.» the son of Earth reluctantly admitted, and the bard agreed with him.

«The thought of something happening to Chris once again is enough to give me collywobbles.» Felix added, his eyes unfocused.

«The what?» Hyunjin questioned, and Felix sighed in an exasperated way.

«I’m scared!!» he whisper-yelled, emphasizing the concept.

“Let their fate do its course”, but what could it mean? Moreover, why did Hyunjin had the feeling that Karanda was hiding something from him?

Felix was silent once again, and he didn’t want to disturb him; for a moment, he wondered why Offin decided to burden a mortal boy with such a request.

“Not like I need assistance,” Hyunjin thought, “unless something else came up.”

Few days had passed since you met Garmoth, and you felt strangely tense; although you didn’t want to mention about your feelings to the others because you didn’t want to burden them with your emotions, you settled for being more wary towards your surroundings.

Felix and Changbin were once again leading the group towards a village – which was at least four more days of uncomfortable travel, and you couldn’t wait to sleep on a real bed once more.

Although the vegetation was thick once again, and consequently the dry and arid climate of Duvencrune was definitely behind you, you were still roaming through the mountains – even if of a lower altitude.

Roaming through the mountains meant that you had to think twice about the direction you were to take because, as Changbin repeated quite often, “damn cliffs are damn everywhere on this damn land”. However, no one expected both Felix to take the wrong path and – most importantly, Yunho to be there.

«Well well, that’s unexpected,» Yunho’s attention was claimed by the sound of the horses’ hooves. He was expecting to see some travellers who got lost, but he was rather surprised to find you of all people among them, «tired of your stupid game of cat and mouse?» he questioned with a smug grin. Yunho’s eyes turned completely black, he snapped his fingers, making a small group of at least ten soldiers seemed to appear out of darkness itself.

“I’m sure that he couldn’t do this last time I saw him, what in the world happened?” you thought, cowering in fear and glad about the fact that Changbin instinctively placed his horse between the two of you in an attempt to shield you.

«Quit it, Yunho.» Changbin spoke; however, as Yunho’s eyes landed on his long-time friend, there was no sign of recognition in them. Yunho furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head, almost about to question to Changbin why he was daring referring to him so confidentially.

«I feel generous today,» Yunho’s authoritative voice spoke, silently dismissing Changbin’s topic, «I’ll let you dismount from your horses before throwing you down this cliff.»

«Leave the horses problem to me.» Felix quickly said, making you dismount from your rides at once; hiding someone’s presence was something common among children of Earth, you’ve seen Jongho creating paths out of nowhere plenty of times to know that Felix was probably about to do the same.

Although you were certain that the horses were going to be fine, you definitely couldn’t say the same about you.

«I want the girl alive, kill everyone else.» Yunho’s authoritative tone ordered as he wore a stoic and blank expression; as if they had just been woken up from a dream, the soldiers – who have been completely unmoving until then, charged towards your direction. It was obvious that you were outnumbered, and it was obvious that you couldn’t win.

Felix was momentarily nowhere to be seen, and therefore, out of instinct you moved towards Chris’ left side, as the boy was busy covering Minho’s back as well.

«What if we flee?» Changbin questioned with a scream, making sure you could hear him above the loud clashes of the swords. In the same moment, next to you, Chris managed to disarm one of Yunho’s soldiers with a quick and swift movement of his sword, just to grab at the enemy’s throat; water circled his neck, and as you saw him falling to the floor painfully coughing even more water, you realized you didn’t want to know what kind of fighting techniques were used at Iliya’s Island.

«It would be useless,» Seungmin, screamed back, «they won’t die unless they’ve fulfilled the order they received!» Exactly as your friend said, Yunho’s soldier sat back on the ground, slowly getting up after recovering his sword, ready to charge at him once again.

«That’s not possible!» Chris’ incredulous voice as he dodged yet another attack caught your attention, but you already knew what he was referring to. There was a black cloud of constantly moving black smoke around said soldier’s throat, and you didn’t have to glance at Yunho to confirm your suspicions. As easily as that, Yunho neutralized Chris’ spell.

The only spells who seemed to work longer than the others were Hyunjin’s; he was effortlessly and continuously neutralizing your enemies for a little longer than anyone else managed to. However, at this rate, it was impossible for anyone to take a break from continuously fighting in order to defend yourself.

It was definitely Yunho’s strategy; make you tired enough so that he could snatch you away without wasting too much of his energy. Hyunjin was the only one continuously attacking, thanks to his ability to move as quick as the wind; the rest of you were collaborating as best as you could, trying to deliver powerful spells only if someone else was parrying the opponent’s attack.

«It’s getting boring in here.» Yunho exclaimed, startling you judging from how close he got in the blink of an eye; he forcefully gripped your shoulder, yanking you towards the direction of the cliff.

«Let’s see if you were worth the wait.» Yunho’s voice spat, and once again, as your eyes locked, there was no sign of recognition in his eyes; as if the girl he had loved like his own daughter was now a complete stranger to him. «Since it’s your fault it took me so long to corrupt these souls, can you believe?» as his voice gradually got louder and – if possibly, angrier, he twirled the hilt of the sword on the back of his hand, only to grab it firmly once again and attack harshly towards the ground.

Although Yunho couldn’t remember, he was the one who - many years ago, had insisted that you constantly worked on having quick reflexes; it’s probably thanks to these lessons that his swords didn’t sink into your thigh.

«All is left about your family is nothing but empty shells,» Garmoth had said, and the words Yunho just spoke were the confirmation you needed.

Although one of the men you loved the most in the world was right in front of you, there was no trace of his kind and understanding soul any longer.

The thought of your family suffering only for you to be safe, for some reason, fuelled you with unexplainable anger; you quickly got on your feet, wielding the sword Garmoth’s created for you and launched forward.

«What’s that toy?» Yunho chuckled, easily parrying every one of your attacks; the fact that he wasn’t using his powers was a clear signal that he was playing with you, «Did the Dragon and his wench thought a human could kill me?» he laughed, kicking you in the stomach with enough force to make you fall on the ground once again. Yunho was towering over you, looking at you as if you were an annoying nuisance – you definitely were in his eyes, and as he approached your retreating form, he expertly twirled his sword in his hand.

«Watch out!» an unfamiliar rough voice shouted, and if only you were in such a situation, you would have been incredibly happy about the fact that Jisung had spoken out loud for the first time – of course, although you’d preferred for it to be a more peaceful moment.

As you dragged yourself back a little more, your left hand met the void; quickly glancing back, you realized with pure horror that not only you were literally at the edge of the cliff, but that Yunho was about to attack you once more and the only way to avoid it was to take the leap.

He drove his sword towards you once again, however, before you realized, a familiar weight crashed against yours, and you noticed too late that Chris’ arm had been stabbed by Yunho’s sword.

«No!» you exclaimed, as Yunho’s wicked laughter filled your ears; you pushed Chris’ back against your chest, and he clutched at the painful fresh wound. There was a faint aura of black smoke erupting from your soulmate’s skin, and you realized with horror that Yunho’s sword must have been either poisoned or enchanted.

«That alchemist is really something.» Yunho nodded to himself approvingly, as to praise Yeosang’s skill because - of course, no one else but him could have come up with something like that.

«Thinking about it, I changed my mind, you’ll die here.» Yunho’s wicked grin was back on his lips, as he closed his right hand in a tight fist; a small cloud of menacing darkness was erupting from it. «Hongjoong sends his regards.» he spat with an ironic tone, before the land under yours and Chris’ feet crumbled.

Before you realized what was happening, you and Chris were falling off the cliff at dangerous speed; although there was a river right underneath it, you sincerely doubted it was deep enough not to hurt the both of you. Moreover, the fall was dangerously high, meaning that you and your soulmate were most definitely doomed.

Suddenly, you felt Chris move his left arm right behind your waist, quickly yanking you against his chest. Ignoring the pain he was feeling, Chris used his powers, both eyes turning blue as the river quickly rose from its bed towards your direction, just to welcome you as a soft and inconsistent mattress, gently accompanying your fall and making you safely land on the river bank.

«I’ll leave the rest to you now.» Chris roughly panted, groaning in pain as he tried to do his best not to lose his senses.

Back on the cliff, Yunho and his soldiers had vanished in a cloud of black smoke in the same moment they saw you and Chris fall off the cliff.

«We have to find a way down, and quickly!» Minho urged, getting as close as the cliff as he could.

«It’s pretty high from here, they could be-»

«Seungmin, finish that sentence and I will personally cut your tongue.» Changbin’s rough and distressed voice spoke, as he tried to focus enough to summon his power just to see things from the river’s perspective.

However, as strange as it was, he could not.

«I can’t see… anything?» he opened his eyes, quizzically looking at Hyunjin and Felix. As the two of them tried to do the same, Changbin’s words were sadly confirmed.

Hyunjin had enchanted your earring so that he could be able to find you anywhere and everywhere, so why couldn’t he?

“Let their fate do its course.” Karanda had said, but was this what she meant?

Most importantly, what had he and Felix done to their friends?

Given the fact that a cloak of stars was draped over the sky, you admitted to yourself that you had completely lost track of time. Despite his attempts not to faint, Chris effectively lost his senses as soon as the two of you touched the wet soil of the riverbank, leaving you the task to both look for a sheltered place and somehow dragging him there.

Unexpectedly, you managed to find a recess, not deep enough to be considered a cave, but large and deep enough to allow you to hide inside undetected. Considering the fact that Chris was in a constant state where he kept fainting and gaining consciousness and you didn’t know whether Yunho was still looking for you, you decided that it was enough of a shelter for the night.

Carefully, you helped Chris sat against the sturdy wall of the recess, immediately creating a small fireplace right next to him; trying to make as little noise as you could, you took off both his fur cloak and yours instantly drying them with your powers, just to cover your soulmate’s shaking form.

However, Chris’ teeth didn’t stop clattering, and your worry only increased; you quickly moved to sit next to him, sneaking under a small fraction of his makeshift blanket so that your bodies were effectively touching, so that you could share your natural body heat with him.

Instinctively, Chris moved, leaning against your warmth barely above a whisper, he faintly mumbled your name, before leaning his against your shoulder; not wanting for him to move, you slowly moved your arm so that you could link yours with his, hugging it close to your chest.

Although he warmed up pretty quickly after you sat next to him, Chris’ pained whimpers were enough for you to not to manage to sleep; during the night, you tried to use healing magic on his wound, just to notice that it didn’t work in the least. The wound looked painful, but not extremely deep; despite the fact that there wasn’t any more black smoke erupting from it, the flash around said wound was concerning shades of a purplish colour.

Rubbing your eyes with distressed movement as if to get rid of your tiredness, you kept trying to heal him, aware that - if Chris was like that, it was completely your fault.

Under the same blanket of stars, your friends had collapsed due to exhaustion, as they had spent what remained of the day trying to find you.

«Guide me to her,» Hyunjin faintly mumbled to the wind, his eyes turning grey; however, never ending seconds passed, only for the bard to realize that Karanda herself was probably preventing him to find you. Hyunjin tightly clenched his fist, and turned his head towards Felix, who was once again keeping watch.

«If they wake up, cover for me.» the bard said, and before his friend could say anything else, he vanished in a gust of wind.

«You are shielding my sight.» Hyunjin advanced with secure steps through the Harpies’ Ridge. It wasn’t clear to him why he was so worked up about the issue; but he dismissed his thoughts with the shallow thought that he was just trying to follow her orders.

«And here I thought you came back because you missed your sisters.» Karanda addressed him, as always quietly sitting on her throne.

Hyunjin would have never thought that the day where he could be so angry towards his Queen would come, and yet, there he was.

«You’re shielding my sight, Karanda. I’ve been by your side for enough years for you to know that I hate when you do it.»

The Goddess, however, shook her head, completely aware about why the harpy was behaving like that, «It’s not my fault this time, but Kzarka’s.» meeting Hyunjin’s silence, she explained further, «I believe part of his corrupted power is dangerously close to her.»

Hyunjin’s heart felt a little less restless; although he was happy Karanda didn’t betray him, he was still worried about his friends. The bard furrowed his eyebrows, could it be that while they were fighting, Yunho managed to hurt one of them? No one saw what happened, since the cursed soldiers were keeping them busy enough to prevent it.

«They are alive, Hyunjin. Their souls haven’t returned to the Gods.» she added, and the bard nodded at her, although he didn’t manage to hide his concern.

At dawn’s first light, you felt a gentle hold around your wrist; snapping your head up, you realized with horror that somewhere along your attempts to heal Chris, you fell asleep. As you sat between his bent legs, your head had naturally fell on the crook of his neck, as apparently, your hands remained on his chest; you didn’t know if you felt more sore due to the uncomfortable position you slept in or if you felt more embarrassed about it.

However, Chris was looking at you, his eyes partially unfocused, before quietly glancing around just to take in your surroundings.

«How do you feel?» you cautiously asked, your heart feeling heavy as you noticed that he was still flinching and whimpering due to the pain he was feeling, but he was doing his best in trying to hide it from you. Chris didn’t trust his voice to verbally answer, and therefore he simply nodded, leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes.

«I’m sorry,» you admitted as you felt your eyes sting from the tears threatening to fall, «it’s my fault, I’m sorry.» you repeated, lowering your head so that you were staring at your lap.

«Cut the bullshit, it’s not your fault.» Chris’ husky and soft voice broke the silence, and he gently lifted your chin by placing his index finger under it, «I got hurt because I wanted to protect you, and it’s on me, not you.» you shook your head weakly, and he weakly scoffed.

Somewhere between your small talk, his hand slid from your wrist to your hand, intertwining your fingers in a gesture that despite everything, managed to comfort you.

Although he admitted that he wanted to protect you, you still wondered why; the feeling that he could return your feelings with the same intensity was a small yet bright hope in your heart, and you found yourself hesitantly tracing the scar on his face with trembling fingertips and a gentle touch.

Chris’ mismatched eyes were locked on you, and the kindness and affection that they showed were enough for you to realize that you didn’t want to lose him.

It was as if time stopped, just for you to inch closer to each other; as your lips met halfway, you wondered who had been the first one to lean in. Chris’ lips were gently and yet passionate against yours, just like his whole personality. He weakly lifted his left hand just to caress your cheek, moving your head just enough to deepen the kiss and you let him - you would have let him do so much more, but Chris sudden pained his broke the small bubble the both of you had lived in for few second.

Chris leaned his head in the crook of your neck, whimpering and shivering in pain, leaving you sitting between his legs and staring at the rocky wall; your heart was hammering in your chest, and you knew your soulmate could hear it loud and clear.

«Why did you kiss me?» you weakly questioned, unsure about the fact that your voice even came out in the first place.

«I’m sorry, sweetheart,» you heard him fatiguely speak, «I always show up too late when it’s time to save you.» he answered.

As you were about to retort, you noticed that your soulmate leaned his head back once again, his face shortly contorting in pain; taking a deep breath and trying to ignore the fact that you were effectively crying, you decided not to speak, repeating your ministration in trying to heal him.

«They’re here!» you heard Seungmin’s voice shout, and as you snapped your head to your right, you felt as if you have woken up from a nightmare.

It must have been somewhere around the middle of the afternoon; and you were still at Chris’ side, who had now completely lost his senses. Although his heart was beating and he was breathing weakly, he had passed out few hours after you kissed, and still hadn’t woken up.

«Seungmin!» you weakly called out, relief washing over you as one by one, the others ran to where he was standing.

«You’re alive, I was about to have a heart-attack» Changbin mumbled as he hugged you as tight as he could; however, despite the relief about the group being reunited, you still had a big problem to solve.

«What’s wrong with him?» Felix hurriedly ran to Chris’ side, kneeling next to his unconscious form and wiping few strands of black hair away from his forehead.

«Yunho stabbed his shoulder, I – I can’t heal him.» you nervously explained, not noticing how Hyunjin’s head snapped towards you, as he listened to your words with wide and incredulous eyes.

When Karanda hypothesized that part of Kzarka’s corrupted power was dangerously near you, he definitely didn’t consider the eventuality of Chris being hurt.

«Troublesome child of Water,» he faintly mumbled, as he closed the distance between him and your soulmate with quick steps. Hyunjin leaned in, examining Chris’ wound as the boy was still looking peacefully asleep; the bard’s fingertips faintly hovered over the boy’s injury, and his eyebrows furrowed.

Hyunjin clenched his jaw, the memories of many of friends succumbing to darkness due to the same wound immediately resurfacing; he had seen it happen countless times in the past, but still, he had hoped to never witness something like that again.

The God of Corruption’s aura was easily perceptible from Chris’ shoulder, and Hyunjin knew that it was just a matter of time for your soulmate to wake up as another one of Kzarka’s puppets.

The bard didn’t need to make up his mind in order to decide to save him: although Karanda had told him not to meddle with humans, he had realized long ago that he had blatantly disobeyed her order.

Hyunjin faintly smiled, thinking about the paradox of his situation: the harpy who always refused to reincarnate into a human because of her hatred towards the species was now trying so desperately to save the friends she made as she reincarnated into a human boy.

«Stay back, all of you.» Hyunjin spoke, and his sudden and unusual authoritative tone made you immediately comply; Felix stood up as well, walking to your side. «Let’s see if I remember how it’s done.» the bard mumbled to himself, as he placed the palm of his hand above Chris’ wound. Hyunjin’s eyes flashed a dark shade of grey, action which made you furrow your eyebrows; you were taught that healing or basic magic made your eyes turn golden, so why did he use his elemental magic to heal?

«Healing spells don’t work.» you faintly spoke; however, the words died in your throat as soon as Hyunjin began to speak; his words were incomprehensible, almost if he was talking an ancient and forgotten language.

As Hyunjin kept reciting his spell, a faint white glow seemed to be emitted from his body, and everyone noticed as well how his eyes gradually started to change colour: if his elemental magic made his eyes look like the darkest of clouds, now, his orbs were almost white.

Again, Hyunjin kept talking and Chris’s face started to contort in pain; there were few droplets of sweat on the bard’s forehead, and despite his hand was trembling every now and then, he refused to stop.

Suddenly, looking at Hyunjin, you seemed to recall one of Seonghwa’s tales about your mother: it lasted probably a fraction of a second, but at some point, you were sure you could see pure white feathers erupting from Hyunjin’s forearms, and in that moment you realized, the bard must have been blessed by the Goddess of Air herself.

For few seconds, everyone was so speechless about what happened, that no one noticed that Chris’ wound had completely been healed.

«After all this time, I’m still the best healer around.» Hyunjin vainly announced as he stood up once again, brushing the dust off his knees. However, no one dared to say anything.

«Oh, come on.» he sighed, «you’re not even going to say “thank you?”»

Later that day, it was safe to say that no one on the way to the next village spoke about what happened; in fact, for hours, no one dared to utter a word.

Whether you were tired or you were still astonishingly processing what Hyunjin had done few hours earlier, everyone had their different reason.

«Now that I think about it, I forgot my lyre in one of the bags of Felix’s horse,» Hyunjin said, wrapping both his hands around your right one, «Could you get it for me?» you furrowed your eyebrows, glancing at Changbin who simply shrugged.

«Can’t you materialize it?» Jeongin asked curiously, and you glanced at the younger boy, consequentially missing how Hyunjin glared daggers towards him.

«I’m still recovering from healing Chris.» the bard lied, but you nodded at him, not asking for further explanations.

«I’ll see you at the inn, then.» you mumbled nervously, glancing towards Minho, who was effortlessly carrying a still unconscious Chris on his back.

As soon as you were out of sight, Hyunjin’s expression darkened, suddenly looking exhausted.

«I know you are still shocked, but I mean no harm. However, we are gathered here today to fight our common enemy.» he spoke, making Felix scoff while hiding a smile; after all, riding a horse together meant that they had plenty of time to gossip.

«Enemy?» Minho questioned.

«Another one?» Seungmin echoed.

«Damn, you really are that naive…» Changbin joked, but Hyunjin quickly silenced the group while raising his index finger.

«I definitely haven’t been sent here to play the God of Love, but those two are literally making me go crazy.» Hyunjin glanced at Chris – who was about to wake up, and hoped that he wouldn’t hear any part of this conversation.

«He’s saying,» Felix chimed in, «we need a valid excuse for them to solve whatever they have going on.»

«Brainstorming, that’s cool.» Changbin mumbled.

«We could get them drunk-» Seungmin offered, just to be harshly silenced by Hyunjin.

«They’ll forget and we’re gonna have the same problem, next one.»

«We could-»

«Jeongin, you’re a child, you shouldn’t even been listening to this conversation.» Hyunjin interrupted him, pressing his thumb and index finger against the bridge of his nose.

«We could room together and make them do the same.» Jisung timidly spoke, still not used to speak in front of someone who wasn’t Minho; Hyunjin’s eyes, however, seemed to sparkle with interest.

«He’s right,» Minho chimed in, «let’s pay the inn-keeper more just to make them believe there aren’t more room available.»

Felix and Hyunjin glanced at each other, and as easily as that, they decided that Jisung and Minho would share a room, making it impossible for either you or Chris to want to switch; Seungmin, Jeongin and Changbin would share another one, using the excuse to “keep an eye on them”.

«As for us, she might suggest to switch rooms, but Chris is- well, kinda jealous of Hyunjin, so he would never agree.» Felix explained.

Therefore, that’s basically how, once you arrived at the inn while holding Hyunjin’s lyre, Jisung announced you about your roommate’s condition.

Chris had woken up, and he was now sitting on the bed that the two of you were supposed to sleep on.

However, your soulmate wasn’t alone, because apparently, everyone else had decided to intrude your shared room; some were sitting on the bed, some on the floor, because Changbin had purposely saved one of the chairs for you to sit on.

Not to mention, each of them had brought few plates full of food as well, meaning that it was just like when you were sitting in Minho’s kitchen, but the feelings each one of you held were completely different from then.

«Why don’t we face the elephant in the room?» Seungmin suggested, noticing how everyone was suddenly looking nervous.

«And that should be me?» Hyunjin questioned, chewing on his food.

«Yeah, of course,» Seungmin eagerly nodded, «Chris is okay, the least you could do is to tell us what happened.» Instinctively, you glanced at Chris, who simply gave you a small smile before adverting his gaze.

«Long story short, I am a spy from Karanda.» Hyunjin announced; enjoying how everyone’s eyes widened dramatically wide – except for Felix’s.

Although the bard never expected for the day where the told the truth about his mission to come, he also never expected him to feel relieved after doing it. Little by little, he explained everything: Karanda’s worries, his mission and – of course, the fact that he had to do everything as a human boy.

Eventually, everyone had their fair share of doubts regarding Hyunjin’s identity, but no one ever brought up the topic; however, you had to admit that it was both funny and heart-warming that everyone was perfectly okay with it.

«A Goddess sent someone to watch over the Princess, that’s something I would never have dreamed of.» Changbin chuckled to himself, adding that he couldn’t wait to get back home in order to tell Lea about it.

«You’re technically a woman?» Jeongin was the first one to speak, his eyes wide in disbelief, Hyunjin nodded briefly, and the assassin’s questions seemed to bloom on the tip of his tongue, «That’s cool! Can you effectively transform?»

«Sadly, I can’t go back being an harpy,» Hyunjin sighed, «unless Karanda undoes her spell, I will live my human life looking like this.»

«At least, you’re good looking.» Seungmin unexpectedly commented next to you, and for a second, your hand froze in mid air as you were about to take a sip from your chalice; Minho’s gentle kick against your feet and your accomplice smile, however, misleaded you into thinking that he heard Seungmin’s words as well.

As the child of Fire’s eyes mischievously landed on Chris, you realized what he was about to do, and your heart picked up pace.

«Now that you’re okay, something interesting happened at Garmoth’s nest.» Minho hid a smug smile behind a small chalice, ignoring the fact that you were looking at him as to beg him to shut up.

«Is it about Garmoth?» Jisung excitedly asked him, hoping to hear interesting stories about the Dragon, and Minho nodded at him.

«Apparently, our Princess has a soulmate.» he spoke, and the collective gasp that filled the room made you desire for the ground to swallow you whole.

«Who is it? Did anyone win the bet?» Seungmin questioned, making you rise an eyebrow at him.

«The bet?» you quizzically asked, but no one answered you, to engrossed with Minho’s storytelling.

«Her soulmate is our beloved Prince.» he said, and among shocked faces, only Felix and Chris remained stoic.

«Felix?!» Changbin asked incredulous, making you shake your head at him.

«About that-» Felix started to speak, but was immediately cut off by Minho.

«The Prince, a child of Water,» Minho clarified, «which is really weird, because Lix is a child of Earth.»

Chris’ eyes met yours, and you silently apologetically smiled at him; for a split second, you hoped for him not to be against the idea of being your soulmate, however, you realized that the silence that followed Minho’s words meant that everyone was waiting for an explanation.

«We’re quite used to swap titles when we leave Iliya Island, especially since the assassination,» Chris spoke, nervously scratching his nape, «I guess we got caught up. I’m sorry.»

«The assassination?!» you instinctively questioned, memories of the conversation you had with Chris resurfacing; following what he had told you, he had been assassinated two months before your first meeting, so how could he look so relaxed about everything?

Both Felix and Chris explained that there were some nobles not completely happy about the fact that the crowned Prince was an illegitimate child, and therefore tried to get rid of him. However, things definitely changed as soon as they saw Chris effortlessly resurfacing from the ocean he had been thrown to after being stabbed, looking very much alive and enraged.

«It really feels like one of those games I used to play when I was younger: you either had to tell the truth about something or do what you were told to,» Changbin explained as he drank a sip of wine, «Minho, Jisung? I believe it’s your turn.» Jisung and Minho looked at each other, before shrugging.

«It’s really not that deep,» Minho answered truthfully, «once you are born in Duvencrune, you can’t live. Basically, we didn’t want to die in there. If you are born as a Duvencrune citizen, you can't leave, no matter what.»

Although you didn’t realize when, but at some point of the night, you had to share your part of truth as well; you quickly glanced around the room, taking in your friend’s faces as they laughed and teased each other, and you wondered if – when she met Hongjoong, your mother had felt the same feeling of belonging as you do.

Seungmin had returned Garmoth’s sword to you, saying that he had found it as he was descending part of the cliff while they were looking to you, and that was your clue to explain yourself. Again, you told them about what the Dragon had told you to do, but you eventually explained about how you had lived your life as well.

Hongjoong - along with his wife and his friends, had spent part of his life living in Velia, also known as the town of freedom. There, your father and your mother lived peacefully and madly in love with each other, showering you with love from the day you were born; the three of you lived a happy life, along with his friends – your family.

Everything seemed to be perfect; you were growing up cultivating your talent as a daughter of Fire, Hongjoong had patiently and carefully spent part of his days teaching you how to use your powers without hurting yourself in the process.

You admired your mother dearly, and her tales about the days where she met your father and they fought together were probably your favourite. Somehow, you wanted to be just like her: selfless, brave, caring. To anyone who asked you, your mother was a warrior, and it would have been a blessing to be able to resemble her, even if just a little bit.

However, after a mysterious stone had been found – which now you knew it was filled with Kzarka’s power, your mother fell ill and passed away in few weeks, causing the indescribable despair of Hongjoong.

Everything seemed to be okay at the beginning; the two of you would visit her tombstone just outside of town, until you eventually noticed that your father spent excessively much time in front of it. Slowly, you noticed how he had started to change; it was as if his sanity was slowly slipping away, and your concern for him would only grow stronger.

Unbeknownst to him, you started secretly following him, just to see that he spent most of his days in silently weeping while sitting in front of your mother’s grave.

«We were soulmates, how could it happen?» he would mumble occasionally, and although you had lost your own mother, you realized that you couldn’t ever imagine how could he have felt. Days turned into months, and months turned into years, until your father gently kissed your forehead on a rainy Tuesday morning, whispering a quiet «I love you.» before heading out without coming back home.

Needless to say, you were scared, worried, and you felt inconsolable; not even your beloved uncles managed to calm you down, although they were trying their best not to let you realize that they felt the same distress you felt.

Once again, days turned into months, and your father came back on a windy evening; there was a strange light in his eyes, as his body partially covered with blood, and a brand new cape – made with black feathers, was carefully draped over his shoulders. He affectionately caressed your cheek while apologizing for being away, and you leaned into his familiar and comforting warmth with a small nod, forgiving him.

«I missed you, don’t go away anymore.» you mumbled weakly, trying to ignore the small harpy’s skull carefully placed on his shoulder. «I promise.» he gently smiled at you.

That was the last night you saw your father’s heterochromatic eyes. Years went by, and the fact that his soul was slowly changing was more and more evident; he had abandoned his generous and bright spirit in order to hug a darker and unknown side of him, a side that no one – not even him, had ever known nor seen.

Eventually, your father and his friends decided to move towards the East, taking shield in an abandoned Castle outside the Reign’s territories, both not wanting to leave their friend alone, both wanting to keep an eye on him. Of course, driven by your sense of worry towards the person you loved the most, you followed them.

From there, as soon as Hongjoong found another one of those mysterious stones, things rapidly went downhill; eventually, your father had completely lost his soul to darkness, his only goal becoming the one to tear down the four divinities, which were silently watching over their children.

The King’s once bright red eye was now pitch black, as if it was a bottomless hole void of any kind of emotion; his power also drastically changed as well. Of course, he could still control fire, but if once the flames erupting from his hands were warm, bright, red and comforting, now they were as black as a starless sky, and the once burning flames he could control, now almost seemed as cold as ice.

With extreme discouragement, you noticed that your father started to lose his memories to darkness as well. To you, it was heart wrecking to see your uncles losing themselves to darkness as well, especially because you have never been able to do anything to help them.

Everything that happened recently, from the encounter with Garmoth, the talk you had with Chris and the fight you had with Yunho were enough for you to see things from another perspective: the Dragon was right.

It was crystal clear that Kzarka had consumed the soul of the people you loved, using their bodies as powerful vessels, and you were determined to do whatever it took to bring them peace.

«I know it sounds really weird,» Hyunjin hesitantly spoke after you had finished your story, «but I can testify everything she said.»

There were a countless of Gods and Goddesses during the Dawn of Time, not only four; they spent their days in bliss, shaping every part of the land that you were now walking on. They decided to create humanity out of kindness, just to gift them said land they had carefully created; children of Nature would have been rare, but they would have had elemental powers, unlike other human beings.

However, Kzarka - according to the harpy’s word, was the only God that managed to create himself out of humanity’s bad intentions; made from envy, greed and malevolence, Kzarka quickly convinced whoever was not a child of Nature to follow him, promising them power and everything anyone could have dreamed of.

Needless to say, the battle against Kzarka and the corrupted humans lasted for centuries, and sadly, Kzarka grew stronger as much as humans’ negative feelings increased: the effort to seal him had been unimaginable, and only four divinities were left.

«Many had lost their soulmates, and this is why some of us refused to be reborn in a human form.» Hyunjin confessed; back then, he had a soulmate as well, of course. A wild and tomboyish daughter of Storm, as unpredictable as the weather; he had befriended her back then, finding amusing the fact that she was incredibly shocked – and yet happy, to have a harpy as a friend.

However, back then Hyunjin failed to protect her, and the imagine of the lively and bright eyes of the daughter of Storm being clouded with darkness were sometimes still haunting his sleep.

«Nevertheless, the two of you better not try to ditch us to do stupid things.» Felix spoke, his gaze switching from yours to Hyunjin.

«We won’t, right princess?» the bard confirmed him.

«I know we’ll be facing an impossible task, but I would appreciate for you to come with me.» you truthfully said; the thought of facing Hongjoong alone was absolutely inconsiderable. Moreover, although you had made up your mind, you were still scared.

«It’s not like anyone of us had changed their mind.» Jisung unexpectedly spoke with a friendly smile, and the others agreed with him.

Eventually, you and Chris were left alone in your shared room, and now that your soulmate had excused himself to take a shower, you had the chance to glance around your surroundings, faintly illuminated by candles.

A wooden bed and a wooden table stood in your shared room - which was big enough for the two of you to walk around without feeling suffocated; there was a small balcony as well, giving you a perfect yet bittersweet view on the city.

Chris was still taking a shower, since he left you go in earlier; «ladies first!» he said with his usual generous smile, and you eagerly took the opportunity to finally shower after days of constant travel.

Although you didn’t have a change of clothes for the night, you were glad about the fact that this was one of those inn that offered warm robes to the costumers, especially because you didn’t want to wear your usual clothes to go to sleep.

Leaning against the doorframe that led the room to the balcony, and gradually lost yourself in your thoughts, as your gaze was lost in the landscape of the sleeping village.

«Oh.» Chris’ surprised voice instinctively made your head turn towards him; he was wearing his robe as well, his hair still wet from the shower, and his clothes neatly folded in his arms. Chris was looking at you with a slightly surprised expression, of course not used to see you like this. «You look-»

«Well, you didn’t expect me to sleep with my everyday clothes.» you immediately cut him off, a mixture between feeling flustered and not wanting to hear that you looked “different”.

«-stunning. You look stunning.» Chris clarified, and if he was annoyed about you cutting him off, he didn’t show it. Immediately, you felt your cheeks heathen in a sudden and unexpected warmth.

«How are you feeling?» you questioned him as he walked over where you were, after placing his folded clothes next to yours. Since Chris wore his robe really loose, you could see not only the scar from Yunho’s swords, but you could glimpse other scars as well; instinctively, your mind wondered about how Chris’ naked body would look.

“I mean, I’m thinking about his scars”, you clarified to yourself, as if preventing your thoughts from straying to dangerous places.

«Definitely good,» he reassured you with a smile, «Hyunjin told me that I was basically about to die and – oh, were you there already when Lix punched me out of worry?» he questioned and you failed to hide your incredulous giggle.

«He was like “I told you not to make me worry like that anymore, you shark bait!” and punched me square in the jaw.» Chris laughed, tapping twice on the right side of his face.

«He did the right thing, you shouldn’t have done that.» you answered, and Chris simply sighed.

The Prince – still leaning against the doorframe, placed his hand around your forearm, gently pulling you towards him; you let yourself be embraced by him, not wanting to resist his ministrations. Although your hands were still crossed in front of your chest, Chris was now loosely hugging your waist, pressing your body against his; you were sure that, if not for your arms preventing it, Chris could easily feel how fast your heartbeat was.

«Why did you kiss me?» you mumbled, unconsciously glancing at his lips.

«Yeah, why did I?» Chris’ teasing behaviour was back, and you had to admit that if it usually got on your nerves, in that moment you managed to find it somehow alluring.

One of Chris’ hands travelled from your waist to your shoulder, and his touch seemed to set your skin alight that for a second, you wondered who the child of Fire really was; your soulmate had his eyes closed, as his lips were millimetres from yours.

«I love you,» he whispered, your faces so close that you could feel his lips gently brush against yours as he spoke; «I am utterly in love with you, soulmates or not.» he confessed, and you found yourself closing the little distance that remained within the two of you.

Unlike your first kiss, your lips were roughly moving against each other, your right hand loosely gripping the other’s hair and your left arm thrown around his neck, making you stand on your tiptoes in the process. Chris was firmly holding you against his chest with his right arm - helping you keeping your balance, while his left hand was sprawled on the side of your neck, occasionally tilting your head to deepen the kiss, as your mouth was occasionally swallowing his whimpers.

Somewhere along bold touches and heartfelt confession, the two of you had messily kissed your path to the bed, your robes easily discarded in the process.

Chris was laying under you on the soft mattress, and you were sitting on his lap; as he intertwined your fingers, he brought both of your hands over his head, making you lean over him due to inertia.

«I’m really new to this,» Chris’ hoarse voice confessed, «don’t go easy on me.» he mumbled, before he claimed your lips again.

His words hit you like a thunder out of the clear blue sky; you had your fair share of fun and intercourses when you were still living in the Cursed Kingdom, but you had never expected Chris to be still a virgin, especially when he was looking like that.

As if he could hear the metal gear spin in your brain, Chris chuckled against your lips. «Iliya Island is mainly populated by men;» he explained, «moreover, my first time being with my soulmate makes me by and large happier than finding a hidden treasure lost in the sea.» you instinctively scoffed at his words, just to hide the fact that your heart seemed to swell as his mismatched eyes were fondly gazing at you.

As your bodies connected, Chris’ left hand was constantly intertwined with your right one, and as your bodies moved together, you realized that no one else than your soulmate could have made you feel such intense pleasure. His caresses and touches were disconnected paths on your skin, leaving a trail of goosebumps everywhere he decided to touch you.

Chris was just like the sea, an addictive balance of unpredictable storms and calm tide pools; Chris was just like the sea, and you loved him.

Although your friends had different and weird habits, you definitely didn’t understand why they were laughing among themselves while throwing what looked like few leather pouches filled with money.

«What are they doing?» you questioned Chris, which was looking at them with an amused smile.

The two of you walked towards their table, happy that they had already ordered enough breakfast for the two of you as well.

«We had a bet few months ago.» he simply said, taking a seat next to Felix.

«A bet?» you asked, mirroring his action and sitting between your soulmate and Seungmin, surprised that they had enough time to think about bets, «what was it about?»

«Us being soulmates.»

Needless to say, you were glad about the fact that you were already sitting and not still walking, because you would have stopped in your tracks; Chris was looking at you with a mischievous smile and still, you noticed how it gradually grew fond as much as you were getting flustered.

«What did you bet on?» you found yourself asking as you felt your cheeks heathen.

However, before he could answer, Minho loudly called his name, before throwing him pouch full of money.

Chris winked at you, wordlessly giving you the answer you were looking for, and you shook your head, hiding your embarrassment behind an exasperated sigh.

CHAPTER V

«We’ll get caught.» you whispered without any intention to stop Chris as his lips hungrily moved against yours, his hands found their way on your hips, caging you against the kitchen table; instinctively, you put your hands on his shoulders, letting him easily hoist you up on the wooden surface. Chris’ breath faltered as you eventually started to bite a path on his neck, making you smile to yourself.

«Oh, for the love of the Gods,» Hyunjin’s exasperated voice made you and Chris slowly separate from each other while hiding an amused laughter. «What is it?» Seungmin shouted from the other room. «You burned the stew?» Changbin echoed. «We have to sanitize the kitchen, again,» the bard shouted back, «I almost miss the days where you acted like shy virgins.» you heard him mumble to himself, making both you and your soulmate erupt with laughter.

After you and your friends decided to stay together and complete the mission Garmoth had gave you, you also decided that instead of staying at an inn and pay for different rooms, the wisest solution was to rent a house for the months you needed to come up with an efficient plan – months during which Seungmin and Jeongin managed to turn Jisung and Minho into skilled fighters.

«What are you doing?» Jisung knocked to the open wooden door, catching your attention; you lifted your head from your hands, finally stopping burning holes into the alchemy book in front of you.

«Trying to come up with a solution,» you sighed, «I don’t think we can walk into the Cursed Kingdom with our weapons on sight.» Jisung pouted, lost in thoughts; he had an idea, but he was still hesitant to voice it out to you.

«Hannie, you can’t use magic, right?» you questioned him as soon as he took a seat in front of you, opening one of the books on the desk; he shook his head, saying that he could only do some basic healing spell, but nothing else.

Driven by hope, you lent him the enchanted glove Yeosang had made, just to write with ink the same symbol on the top of your hand; using magic, you created a small fireball, before locking your gaze with you friend’s.

«We could use alchemy to share our powers,» you explained that since you had the same symbol on your skin, he could try to summon it in the same moment you decided to lend your powers to him, however, despite multiple attempts, it didn’t work.

Eventually, during the days, Seungmin and Changbin joined the two of you, trying to come up with useful solutions.

«There is something we could try,» Jisung hesitantly spoke, playing with the hem of his shirt; your eyes – along with your friends’, were now locked on him, who seemed to shrink due to the unexpected attention.

With a deep breath, Jisung took enough courage to reach out for a blank paper and draw an alchemy symbol on it; it was exactly like the one Yeosang had created, however, it had few more lines. Aware about the fact that in alchemy, each symbol and each line position had a meaning, you felt colour drain from your face.

«Well, well.» Seungmin chuckled, incredulous. «Did you come up with it?» you questioned him, but Jisung shook his head. «Minho did,» he explained, «however, in Duvencrune it’s forbidden.» «What does it mean?» Changbin curiously asked. «Sharing one’s power.» Jisung dismissed. «In life and in death,» Seungmin added immediately, «Let’s suppose I could use Hyunjin’s power; I could have some real fun, but if I use too much, he could die.» Changbin whistled at the explanation, commenting it that it was indeed risky.

«There’s a way to make it less – less lethal.» Jisung stuttered, adding yet another line to the drawing he made; only then, he unbuttoned the top of his shirt, just to reveal the same drawing engraved on his skin.

Instinctively, the three of you tensed up in front of him; it was easy to figure out that Minho was the other one to have the same drawing engraved on his skin, even without asking.

«There’s a limit of the magic the other can summon.» Jisung explained. «Did you ever use it?» Seungmin asked, unsure, and Jisung nodded immediately. «Twice.» he clarified; since Jisung didn’t explain further, the three of you silently decided not to peer into his past more than needed.

The following day, Jisung’s proposal had been explained to the others, who surprisingly enough took it as a good news. «I think that’s the wisest solution, since I believe we’ll be forced to give up our weapons.» Chris spoke, and Felix agreed with him. «What if someone of us gets, you know – possessed?» Minho questioned, but Felix simply waved his head as if to dismiss his friend’s question. «In that case, just trust Hyunjin.» he said, without explaining himself. «I don’t think I understood how we plan to get into the Cursed Kingdom in the first place.» Jeongin innocently spoke, and you gently smiled at him. «Jeongin,» you sighed, «aren’t you and Seungmin bounty hunters from the Cursed Kingdom?» «Yes!» he immediately answered, «Oh-» he added after few seconds of silence.

To be honest, everything in the plan you and the others had come up with was risky, but it was the only way to enter the Kingdom through the front door without dying before reaching the front gate.

«The key is, we have to trust each other; always.» Minho explained. On a windy morning, you and the others found yourself skinning thin lines resembling an alchemy symbol on the top of each other’s hand, pouring few droplets of your mixed blood over it.

«Do we have to make one of those embarrassing oaths or something?» Seungmin questioned, and Minho simply rolled his eyes in a silent answer.

From that moment, everyone trained meticulously to master few magic spells without letting the children of Nature among you feel any fatigue. It was actually kind of fun, you had to admit to yourself, since not only you could create your own elemental weapon out of thin air, but you could combine the elements as well. In less than two weeks, you could swear that Jisung, Seungmin and Jeongin looked like real children of Nature.

Now that everyone had learnt how to use the technique you and Jisung came up with, there was only one problem; your eyes glanced at the sword that Garmoth gave you, leaning against the wall next to your friends’ weapons.

Of course, you couldn’t carry any weapon with you, so, how could you complete your very dangerous mission? A sigh from your left caught your attention; Hyunjin was intensely looking at you with his hands placed on his waist and somehow, you had the impression he could read your thoughts.

«He didn’t tell you?» of course, Hyunjin didn’t need your answer to know, since he had eavesdropped the whole conversation you and Minho had with the dragon. As you were about to ask for a clarification, Hyunjin walked towards the enchanted sword, before carrying it towards you; he unsheathed just a small part of it, the black obsidian blade emitting a faint glow.

«Give me your hand.» Hyunjin ordered, taking a hold of your index finger as soon as you outstretched your hand towards him; he firmly pressed your fingertip towards the blade, and you didn’t need to see it to realize that there were few droplets of your blood on it. Hyunjin sheathed the sword with a satisfied smile, before placing it in its original place.

«Call for it,» he instructed; furrowing your eyebrows in confusion, you tilted your head to the side, and he instinctively giggled at your expression, «think about wielding it, come on.»

Unsurely, you tried to do it; closing your eyes, you pictured the sword in your hand - however, nothing happened. As you opened your eyes, Hyunjin’s encouraging expression suggested you to try again, and you did.

It took few attempts and more concentration than you expected to, but in the end, you found your clenched fist adjusting to the perception of the hilt of the enchanted sword appearing out of nowhere in the palm of your hand.

«We should practice tonight as well,» Chris offered, glancing at the clear sky. «Absolutely not,» Seungmin scoffed, «a storm is coming up tonight.» «Whatever.» your soulmate answered, thinking about the fact that he was simply making up few excuses.

Even if no one payed attention to Seungmin’s words, Hyunjin’s head snapped towards him; how could the human sense a change in the weather before him? Hyunjin’s gaze lost itself in the glass of water in front of him, distant memories of a wild tomboy predicting storms slightly resurfacing.

«Changbin, I have a question but I don’t want to ruin your dinner.» Felix claimed the older man’s attention, who incredulously furred his eyebrows.

«If you doubt you can ruin it, you most definitely already did,» Changbin sighed, before allowing his friend to go on.

«You have a wife, but she’s not a children of Nature, am I right?» Felix questioned almost shyly, and Changbin’s face made it clear that he understood where Felix’s question was going.

«My relationship with Lea is definitely far from perfect,» Changbin sighed, «we have been together for so long – we fought a lot, we still fight sometimes over trivial things, and we mostly will fight in the future.»

«However,» he added before any of you had a chance to question him, «I don’t want this “soulmate” thing unless it’s with her. I’d rather spend the rest of my days listening to her nagging at me because I forget to do the laundry instead of having a peaceful life with someone made just for me, but someone who is not Lea.» Hyunjin felt shortly struck by those words, and his eyes unconsciously found Seungmin’s gaze, who was already looking at him; Changbin loved someone because he chose to, Hyunjin realized, meaning that Changbin was infinitely less of a coward than he was. Seungmin imperceptibly tilted his head to the side, silently questioning if he was okay, and Hyunjin hesitantly nodded at him in a silent answer.

“Loving someone who is not your soulmate, huh?” Hyunjin spoke; as he chewed on a small bite of food, he promised himself that if your group managed to come back alive from the Cursed Kingdom, he would have given it a try.

The trip to the Cursed Kingdom was way much longer and way more silent than you expected, and it wasn’t difficult to realize that everyone must have been incredibly nervous. «I believe in you.», were the last words Chris spoke to you before as planned, Seungmin and Jeongin had tied up everyone right before stepping into the woods right outside the Kingdom, but what no one expected, was to find the city deserted. The Kingdom’s gates had opened by themselves, and the path from the gates to the Castle’s entrance was completely clear. «It’s probably an illusion,» Hyunjin’s nervous voice suggested, «be careful.»

What your group didn’t know was that Hyunjin was right; Kzarka had waited for you to show up, and therefore, as soon as he felt the presence of you and your group walking the woods, he decided to make you reach the Castle as soon as he could, since he couldn’t wait to get rid of you.

«I suppose these are useless, now.» Seungmin spoke, untying your wrists as you were in front of the throne room. Before anyone could answer, the doors opened by themselves, revealing Hongjoong sitting on his throne while the others were standing still at his side. «Finally, the prodigal daughter is back!» Hongjoong announced, sitting up from his throne; you didn’t answer, simply clenching your fists. «Let’s just finish this quickly.» the King spat, and only then, Seonghwa and the others seemed to come to life.

One by one, your friends met their opponent. Seonghwa stood proud in front of Hyunjin, while Wooyoung arrogantly faced Felix. San had his sword thrown over his shoulders, and he confidently walked in front of Changbin, while Yunho did the same thing with Seungmin. Yeosang quickly walked towards Jisung, and since he was the weaker out of the group, Chris immediately walked at his friend’s side. Jongho and Mingi respectively walked in front of Minho and Jeongin, leaving you to face Hongjoong by yourself. With a deep sigh, you imagined yourself wielding Garmoth’s sword, and it immediately appeared in your hand.

«Trying to face me again with that useless toy?» Hongjoong cooed, before charging at you. The fact that Hongjoong had always been an excellent fighter clearly turned out to be a problem, especially now that Kzarka made him even more powerful. His movements were fast and unpredictable, making it impossible for you to come up with actual moves in order to counter attack him; moreover, everyone pretty much had their hands full and therefore, you definitely couldn’t ask your friends for help. «You shouldn’t get distracted, Princess.» Hongjoong spat in a mocking tone, before moving your crossed swords to his left, only to effortlessly wave his right hand in mid-air, creating flying arrows of fire directed towards you. Instinctively, you closed your eyes, summoning a little of Felix’s power to create a shield right to protect yourself with: thin and flexible branches materialized in front of you, letting the fiery arrows only half pass, consequently preventing them from hurting you - and unfortunately hiding Hongjoong’s amazed gaze from your sight as well.

Through the eyes of your father, Kzarka immediately realized that you and your friends must have come up with some sort of forbidden technique that let you and your friends share your magic, and therefore, his plans immediately changed. If he had spent years waiting for the perfect moment to get rid of you, now he found himself thinking that maybe, you could have been more useful than Hongjoong himself. Since then, your fight with Hongjoong drastically changed. If at the beginning you were desperately trying to block and counter attack charged attacks, now you had to dodge as well; you didn’t know yet, but all Kzarka needed was a little droplet of your blood for his plan to work. A loud noise followed by your friends’ screaming voices caught your attention, and you immediately turned around fearing that something had happened to Chris. However, Hongjoong’s pitch black eyes were locked on you, as the blade of his sword was pressed against your neck.

«How stupid must you be to get distracted?» the stinging sensation right where the blade was pressed made you wince, but in that moment, you didn’t ask yourself why Hongjoong didn’t take advantage of that moment but let you move his sword with yours, preventing it from hurting you even further. Although you had been tightly gripping the helm of Garmoth’s sword, you highly doubted you could fulfil his order; Hongjoong’s attack made it clear for you that it was impossible to counter attack him, unless you could outwit him. However, how could you outwit the God of Corruption? The shouts of your friends fighting restlessly made it quite difficult for you to focus, however, you were the only one who could solve the situation. Rubbing the sleeve of your shirt against the fresh wound against your neck in the vain attempt to get rid of the itching sensation, you summoned once again a bit of Felix’s magic, creating a circular shield made of teak tree – thanks to the younger boy you learnt that it was a very resistant type of wood. Since then, you kept parrying Hongjoong with newfound determination, waiting for the perfect moment to strike; however, Hongjoong’s stamina never wavered, and since you summoned just a little amount of your friend’s magic, your shield was far from indestructible.

With your breath uneven and ragged, you were now kneeling in front of Hongjoong, feeling exhausted; glancing at what remained of your shield – now a thin and short column attached to your arm, you opened both your arms, surrendering. The King raised an eyebrow, only to smile victoriously as you threw Garmoth’s sword away from where you were kneeling, the clinging and metallic sound somehow calling for your friend’s attention. Through the eyes of your father, however, Kzarka had already seen through your actions, and decided to act accordingly.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, Hongjoong’s sword was raised in the air, and as soon as he was about to attack you, you abruptly stood up, hitting him in the stomach while using your shield. The King, however, had already deliberately let his sword fall on the ground, letting himself being stabbed by the enchanted sword you had materialized out of thin air.

When Hongjoong regained his consciousness, he felt as if he had been sleeping for years, and most importantly, he felt like he couldn’t remember anything about the dream he just had. There was a woman in front of him, her eyes filled with tears and her expression incredibly sorrowful, but what caught Hongjoong’s attention was the fact that her features looked incredibly familiar. It took him a second to realize that you were the stark copy of your mother, and therefore, you couldn’t be anyone else but his daughter.

Glancing towards the burning sensation coming from his chest, he noticed that there was a sword planted in his heart, meaning that his plan had failed; glancing around the unfamiliar room, he noticed that even if there were few boys standing far from his long time friends, they were standing still as well, imitating his stance while clutching at their own heart.

«I know your face,» Hongjoong mumbled, the gentle whisper of your name making your thoughts dissipate in thin air; it was as the time had stopped all around you, and Hongjoong was looking as you as hesitantly as the day he had held you for the first time the day you were born. Quickly, you nodded your head at him, tears ungraciously falling from your eyes when he smiled, his eyes gradually returning to their original colour. «No, I-» you whispered nonsense words, gripping the helm of the sword in order to extract it with shaky hands; however, Hongjoong leaned against you with a shaky breath and placed a hand above yours, blocking your movement.

«Don’t,» he croaked, «you did well, it was my fault.» he slightly leaned back, his gradually unfocused eyes meeting your crying gaze. «Don’t cry, you did the right thing,» Hongjoong fatiguely whispered, his fingers gently wiping the tears falling from your eyes, «I’m proud of you - we all are.» as your gaze bore into his, your realized that you finally had everything you have ever wanted; you freed your father from his curse, but he couldn’t stay with you.

«Don’t leave me again.» you weakly pleaded, gripping at the fabric of his cloak that was draped on his shoulders, unsure that your whisper could reach his ears. «I’m really sorry, I- let’s meet again in another life, okay?» Hongjoong breathed, pronouncing every word with extreme difficulty as he was losing consciousness. Before his weight completely leaned against you, he managed to bring his right hand in front of his own heart, before extending his hand – now soaked with blood, towards yours in a very familiar gesture you had hoped to see again. «You, me and mom, we - let’s do this “family thing” right the next time we- we meet.»

Before you could answer, however, the sword started to glow brighter, forcing you to detach yourself from Hongjoong’s embrace due to the increasing warmth it was emitting. Within few seconds, Hongjoong vanished in a cloud of thin black dust, and the others simultaneously met the same end, their love for Hongjoong and their will to protect you being the last thing keeping them grounded to this life.

Judging by the deafening silence, it was clear that your friends had stopped fighting, however, no one dared to utter a word; whether it was out of empathy for your suffering, whether it was due to incredulity, each one of them had their reason. With a shaky breath, you kneeled on the floor as tears clouded your gaze, deject and sadness filling your senses; Chris had slowly started to make his way towards you, wanting nothing else to console you but however, Hyunjin’s hold on his arm prevented him from walking further.

«Stay away from her.» Hyunjin’s grip on the Prince’s arm tightened in a threating manner, and as the boys briefly exchanged a glance, Hyunjin pointed towards the two red glowing stones embedded on top of the throne, now glowing even brighter than before. «The plan is not to hurt her, but buy ourselves time.» Hyunjin spoke loud enough for only Chris and the others to hear. «Why should we hurt her in the first place?» Chris questioned the harpy with a confused frown. «Why should we buy ourselves time?» Minho echoed, nervously glancing around himself, briefly meeting Jisung’s tense gaze. As always, Hyunjin didn’t bother to answer his friends; he saw it happen countless times in the past, and therefore he already knew that Kzarka was about to possess your body.

If he were to be honest, Hyunjin had understood Kzarka’s plan in the same moment he noticed him cutting your skin after you summoned Felix’s magic; in that moment, Hyunjin used his powers to reach Karanda in order to ask for help.

Before any of your friends could elaborate another question to ask Hyunjin, a familiar cloud of familiar black smoke seemed to appear out of nowhere, shortly surrounding you and completely hiding you from their sight. Instinctively, you gripped your throat since you felt like you couldn’t breathe properly; it was an indescribable feeling of distress, and everything in your body started to hurt and feel unfamiliar. It was as if Kzarka’s powers were being absorbed in your body through the wound he had previously gave you, and although you wanted to frantically grab your head to make Kzarka’s obnoxious voice disappear, you couldn’t move a finger. «I’ll crush the soulmate first.» were the last words you heard Kzarka whisper through your mouth, before your world faded to black.

Chris and the others watched with horror as you stood up and stretched your arms in the air, as if you felt unfamiliar with your own body. «Let me rephrase my previous question,» Minho quickly walked towards Hyunjin, his eyes still focused on your movements, «buy ourselves time for who?» «I know it’s hard to believe me, but there’s a chance for us to defeat him.» Hyunjin hastily whispered, «Kzarka can’t shatter her soul in so little time, as for the rest, just trust me and let the wind lead.» «Are you done?» you bitterly questioned from where you stood; you lifted the palm of your hand, noticing that the flames you could summon were already almost black – much to Hyunjin’s surprise. Although he had witnessed countless times this moment, what Hyunjin didn’t know was that Kzarka had taken advantage of a perfect moment to possess your body; during your last farewell with Hongjoong, your soul was extremely vulnerable, making you the perfect target. «There’s this thing I’m really curious about,» you spoke again, and through your body, Kzarka tried to summon your friends’ powers; sadly, he couldn’t summon all of them at once, and therefore he realized that you must have meticulously thought about this. However, he could still have fun with it. «I’ll start with you, soulmate.» you spat, theatrically pointing the sword Hongjoong had thrown to the ground towards Chris, who was watching you with a wary expression.

The fact that Chris was partially blind was a secret that only you, Chris and Felix were sharing, meaning that now that someone else could deliberately read your thoughts, your soulmate was in danger.

Not wasting any more time in useless chatter, you attacked your friends, who were having quite some troubles to defend themselves, since you were much more powerful than you usually were. Moreover, Kzarka’s attention was deliberately focused on hurting Chris’, with the only purpose to shatter your soul even more and to quicken the process to seal it away for good. Busy fighting you back while protecting the Prince, your friends still did their best to listen to Hyunjin’s words and not to hurt you; sadly, the fact that you were sharing your powers could be very dangerous, especially when someone else was using too much of it.

Through your body, Kzarka alternately used your friends’ power to the point they were exhausted, kneeling on the floor in the vain attempt to catch their breath and trying not to faint. Since the children of Nature were not a problem anymore, Jisung, Seungmin and Jeongin clearly didn’t represent a threat. Summoning Chris’ magic, Kzarka used the same cursed spell that your soulmate had used against his soldiers few weeks earlier; there was water around Chris’ neck, and judging by his restless coughing it seemed to get tighter as seconds went by.

However, before Kzarka could actually finish his work, unfamiliar fingertips clouded his view, and your back found itself firmly pressed against someone’s firm chest.

«You should really learn when to give up.» Garmoth’s voice authoritatively spoke from behind you, and even if Kzarka tried to peel himself from the God’s firm hold, your body was too weak compared to his, and therefore, few seconds later, Kzarka’s consciousness faded to black, making yours resurface.

«You really took your time to get here!» Hyunjin scolded the dragon as he quickly placed his fingertips against Chris’ neck, breathing a sigh of relief in the same moment he heard a weak pulse beat against his skin.

«You already know Kzarka’s power can shield my sight.» Karanda answered him, as she gracefully appeared out of nowhere. Garmoth – who had been erasing the traces of corruption from your soul, gently took his fingertips from your eyes in favour to hold your waist, gently shaking you a bit.

«Wake up, young flame.» he spoke, and you immediately reacted to his gentle words; you opened your eyes with a groan, your eyes quickly glancing around the room only to lock on Chris’ frame. Hyunjin had a hand pressed against your soulmate’s chest, meaning that he was healing him, but what happened? Did you hurt him? As to read your thoughts, Garmoth quickly explained to you what happened, reassuring you about the fact that Chris was still alive.

«What’s going to happen to Hongjoong?» you weakly questioned. «Nothing,» Garmoth sighed, and you could hear him smile through his words, «I’ll scold him for not trying to ask for help, but I promised Karanda to let him meet her daughter right away.» he explained. The Dragon let you go, tapping your back twice to give you the hint that he didn’t have anything to add, and you quickly closed the distance between you and Chris, kneeling next to him with a worried expression.

With a sad smile, Garmoth’s eyes momentary fell on Karanda, who was uninterestedly glancing at your friends; this scene was incredibly familiar to him, and the fact that everyone in your group managed to survive without getting hurt could be called a miracle. Karanda’s gaze locked with his lover, and she gave him a small smile, as to hint that she was thinking about the same thing as well.

Hyunjin was now smiling, amused at the fact that both the God of Fire and the Goddess of Air were standing in the room, and still, your only thought was to make your soulmate was okay.

Like a fairytale, Chris’ eyes opened in the same moment you touched his face; despite Hyunjin had told you repeatedly that he was okay, you couldn’t do anything but anxiously gnaw at your lower lip. «I’m sorry,» you hastily apologized as soon as he made eye contact with you; Chris’ simply answered with a reassuring smile, and you apologized again, your eyes burning with tears. Shaking his head, your soulmate simply lifted his hand in the air, gently placed it on your nape in order to lead your head in the crook of his neck. «It’s okay,» Chris whispered, «I knew it wasn’t you.» at his words, you silently let yourself cry against his chest.

«We’ll be taking these.» Karanda spoke, claiming both yours and your friends’ attention – who were now standing around Chris, after helping him get up again. Two precious looking caskets appeared in Karanda’s and Garmoth’s hands, and thanks to divine magic, the two glowing red stones embedded in Hongjoong’s thrones had been sealed. The two Gods simultaneously flicked the hand that wasn’t holding the casket, and it disappeared in thin air.

As soon as Karanda and Garmoth turned to praise yours and your friends work, you shortly found yourself without words. If both you and Minho had secretly commented about Garmoth looking handsome, you knew that the next topic would have been that he was nothing compared to Karanda. Everything in her appearance looked ethereal, from her white hair perfectly braided in a complicate hairstyle, to her white dress who seemed to be constantly swayed by a gentle breeze. Only then, you remembered Hyunjin’s words, and how he told you that Garmoth loved to spend his time among humans and therefore, that’s why he looked more like one.

«Before we go, there’s something we have to do!» Garmoth’s dazzling smile was back on his lips, as he cleared his voice, «The Cursed Kingdom has fallen, and the King has died.» he announced, his authoritative and booming voice echoing through the empty throne room.

Garmoth walked towards where you stood, before kneeling in front of you, «Long live to the Queen.» «No, I -» you tried to retort, trying to saying that you didn’t feel like you deserved the title, but your friends immediately eagerly imitated Garmoth’s action. Quickly looked around yourself, your friends – and your soulmate, had their head lowered towards the ground, while Karanda stood still, and simply hinting a nod with her head as soon as your gaze met.

«Kzarka’s curse doesn’t exist anymore, meaning that not everyone will remain here,» the Goddess spoke, «there will be much work to do, but I believe you have faced much more threatening dangers.» she hinted a smile, and you heard Hyunjin snort from his kneeling position.

Of course, unlike you, Hyunjin knew that Karanda could see few glimpses of the future, meaning that her words simply meant something along the lines of “your Kingdom will be great! good luck with this, kiddo!”, but he thought that you were lucky because it could have been worse, she could have spoken in riddles. With the last blessing of erasing completely the traces of Kzarka’s corruption, Karanda and Garmoth used divine magic in order to renew both the Castle and the Kingdom in a blink of an eye; now made of white marble instead of black lava stone, it was as if a new era was about to begin.

Of course, as you and your friends were having a private chat with the Gods, within the streets of the Kingdom everyone’s eyes were locked both on the sudden change of the Castle, but also on the strong yet gentle breeze that easily dissipated the thick layer of clouds that had prevented everyone from seeing the Sun from so many years.

After saying your farewells, Karanda and Garmoth headed towards the huge balcony adjacent to the throne room. «Hyunjin, come.» Karanda spoke without looking back, but Hyunjin clenched his fist, his eyes locked on the floor. «Karanda, I…» he tried, his voice barely above a whisper; immediately, your eyes fell on him, since you weren’t used to see Hyunjin like this. Karanda stopped, and briefly turned around; she attentively scrutinised Hyunjin’s face, before her lips erupted into a small, sad smile. «I believe you remember your oath,» she spoke, her body now completely turned towards him, «unlike them, you won’t grow old, is this what you want?» Hyunjin nodded, wordlessly, and Karanda sighed heavily; as if Garmoth was reading her mind, he chuckled briefly, but stopped as soon as the Goddess glanced at him. Karanda then sighed again, before closing the space between her and Hyunjin; she cupped his cheek, and since she was taller than him, she easily kissed his forehead. In the same moment Karanda’s lips brushed against Hyunjin’s skin, you saw it again; for a brief second, pure white feathers seemed to erupt from Hyunjin’s forearms, just as it happened when he used ancient spells to heal Chris. «Enjoy your life as a human, my friend.» Karanda spoke soothingly, and Hyunjin reached out with trembling fingers to hold her hands, which here still gently holding his face, «when the moment comes, I’ll undo the spell.» Although Hyunjin gave her a secure nod, his eyes were filled with tears; since his soulmate died, he never imagined that he would have sincerely wanted to live as a human - back then he even accepted the mission to watch over you without completely wanting to, and yet, there he was. Hyunjin had found friends he genuinely cared about, and the thought to leave them behind made him extremely sad and lonely. Garmoth smiled at Karanda as if she was the most beautiful entity he had ever seen, and immediately threw his arm over her shoulder in a gentle way, «You’re growing soft, my love.» «Shut up.» she weakly mumbled, aware that only her lover could hear the faint tremor in her voice. Karanda and Garmoth glanced at you and your friends one last time, and in the blink of an eye, both of them were gone.

Few days later, the light of the morning sun fell on Chris’ naked chest, as the two of you were cuddling in bed in your bedroom in the Castle; a blanket was draped over your naked bodies, covering your waists. Chris was absently stroking your arms, his eyes lost somewhere on the ceiling; you sighed, recalling the past days events. The Kingdom was a complete mess to begin with: as expected, many people had left as soon as Kzarka’s curse had vanished, and most importantly, the Kingdom’s reputation was terrible in all the known lands. How could you fix everything?

«What’s wrong?» Chris questioned you as if he could hear the gears in your brain spinning restlessly; with another sigh, you sat up, not having the courage to look at him in the eyes as you uttered your next words. «I think you should return to Iliya island.» you hesitantly spoke. «Oh.» was everything Chris said, his tone laced with sadness made it impossible for you to think you could face him; sadly enough, unlike the previous night, you had completely forgotten about the huge mirror standing in front of your bed, Chris’ gaze locked on your eyes through the mirror with a completely different expression compared to your previous nights’ activities. «Don’t get me wrong,» you immediately added, afraid that he could take your words in the worst way, «I love you, and I would definitely love to spend the rest of my life with you, but - I feel like it would be wrong to be happy when the people living here probably are not, and…» «I think I understand where you’re going,» Chris sat up as well, quickly positioning himself sitting behind you so that he could cage your body and make you feel safe, «this is why, I’m telling you to think about your Kingdom - I probably would have said the same if I were in your place. I’ll wait for you.»

Finally, you met Chris’s gaze through the mirror, and once again, what you found in it were absolute affection and sincerity. «What if you get tired of waiting?» you furrowed your eyebrows, holding his hand a little tighter. «Sweetheart, we’re soulmates,» he gently chuckled, placing a gentle kiss on your shoulder, «I could and I would never turn my back on you, nor I will get tired of waiting. However, your citizens probably will.» you listened to his words, glad about the fact that not only he understood what you meant but he was also trying to give you some useful advice as he had previously done. «Although I really pains me to part from you, I want you to be with me because you feel ready for it; moreover, leading a country is not easy. Nevertheless, I’m sure you’ll make this country so prosperous it will rival the Capital.» «Thank you.» you breathed out. «No need to thank me, sweetheart.» Chris hummed again your skin, placing another kiss on the crook of your neck.

«Hey, Chris?» you called out again, and you felt your soulmate place his chin on your shoulder, tilting his head, «I’m not sure I told you yet, but I really - I love you.» Through the mirror, you could see Chris blush from his cheeks to the tip of his ears. «I can’t believe you confessed before me!» he shyly hid his face behind your nape, before eventually adjusting your positions in bed so that you were now laying down and he was partially hovering above you. «I love you too, my Queen.» he murmured against your lips, before capturing them in a heated kiss.

EPILOGUE

There was a Castle that stood tall at the world’s end: made of white marble and golden amber, its authoritative appearance was enough to make people admire everything about who lived in it and within its increasing territories. The dark and thick layer of clouds that for decades has hovered on top of the Kingdom had dissipated completely, and the citizens’ tales spoke about how the Queen was blessed by the Goddess of Air and the God of Fire to the point that occasionally, clouds only generated above fields just to enable crops and livestock to flourish. Strolling from town to town, Garmoth proudly overheard people talking about his daughter’s work. The Cursed Kingdom had been in ruin for years, and its conservative nature had made it self-sufficient; however, since the Fallen King’s daughter has inherited the throne, it took her four years to make her Kingdom bloom so prosperously to rival the others.

Of course, you didn’t do everything on your own; when Chris and Felix decided to return to Iliya Island, Jeongin and Seungmin decided to go with them, while Hyunjin, Jisung, Minho and Changbin – and therefore Lea, moved in the Castle with you. Although no one among you had the right knowledge about what could be needed to rule a Kingdom, you managed to figure out a way to do it out of spite. «Think about the nobles in the Capital gossiping about us,» Lea giggled as she helped you dress up, «I swear, I’d open a brothel just to have a detailed description of what their incredulity looks like as they say that we’re even richer than they are.» she chanted to herself, and you refrained from the instinct to laugh with her, since she was tying up the laces of your corset. Most importantly, you were definitely too nervous to laugh, since today was a day so important you swore could even outshine the day of your coronation. «What if he doesn’t like me anymore?» you whispered to yourself, however, Lea abruptly stopping her movements meant that she heard you. «Sweetie, we don’t do that here,» she turned you around, before cupping your jaw, «moreover, you’ve exchanged letters for four years, I bet he loves you to the Sun and back.»

Of course, few hours later, you found out that Lea was indeed right – as always. The moment of your reunion, your eyes were locked on Chris so intensely that you almost choked on your water when Minho asked you if you saw Seungmin and Hyunjin peck each other's lips.

Standing on the balcony attached to your room, you were leaning against the railing as Chris’ arms were caging your body as his hands were leaning over it; you wrapped your arms around his waist, realizing that you incredibly missed his touch during these years.

If possible, Chris looked even more handsome, his jet black hair was longer, naturally curling itself in soft waves you loved to run your fingers through. «Chris, I-» you hesitantly spoke, losing yourself in the affection that his eyes showed you; you gently lifted your hand, your fingertips brushing against his cheeks ever so lightly. Taking a deep breath, every sign of hesitancy seemed to disappear from your soul, as Chris encouragingly smiled at you, silently telling you that he was listening

That was it, you thought, that was the life you could finally feel worthy to live. «Chris, will you marry me?» you asked, however, Chris’ smile completely fell, making your heart sink. All of a sudden, Chris’ face erupted into an incredulous smile, accompanied by an incredulous chuckle; he easily entangled himself from your arms, just to gently wrap his right arm around your neck, tugging you towards him. «Again? I can’t believe you proposed first, as well!» he gently rubbed at your head, like he had done few times during your travel, «I was trying to build up my courage to propose to you so hard that Felix threatened to throw me overboard!» you found yourself laughing along him, your heart finally at ease.

«I’m getting married,» you timidly admitted to your parents’ tombstones, «and I wish you were here with me.». All of a sudden, a gentle breeze disheveled your hair, and a weird sensation of warmth seemed to cover your cheek for a little while; it lasted for few seconds, just for everything to vanish as nothing happened. The trip to Velia was something Chris had predicted, since he knew that your mother’s tombstone was in your home-town, and the fact that you had buried one of Hongjoong’s sword and his favourite armor next to her was something that he found out thanks to the letters you exchanged.

Chris’ steps echoed on the gravel, before he kneeled next to you; it was just like that time, many years ago, when Chris offered you his coat in the clumsy attempt to console you. This time, Chris was looking at you with a serene and happy expression - matching yours; he tilted his head quizzically, and you nodded at him before getting up, brushing the dust from your clothes.

«Let’s go,» you sighed, «I promised Felix he could choose the flowers.» «Oh,» Chris giggled, «good luck with finding your way to the altar.» he joked. «No need,» you immediately retorted with a chanting tone, earning a questioning look from your partner, «we’ll find our way together.» Chris gaze softened, and he reached out to intertwine his fingers with yours as the two of you were walking to the carriage waiting for you. «Of course,» he echoed, «we’ll find our way together.»

Do not modify, repost, translate or plagiarize my stories. I only publish my works on tumblr & AO3.

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