Chapter 12: The One Who Eats the Moon

As Lay looked at the face he has not seen in years, he feels a sense of dread fill his gut. There before him was the one that taught him so much, gave him so much, loved him so much. This was a man who would have given his life up for Lay. He still remembers his time with Kyuhyun in Glasskeep, and though he would not go back, he would admit that he missed them, all of them.

 “Hey, bro. How you’ve been.”

Kyuhyun scoffs. Lay knows he deserves it. Kyuhyun only ever scoffed when he was especially peeved. The man was a diplomat by trade, he masked his emotions quite effectively. He liked having this air of superior control and calm. These moments of emotion weren’t part of his makeup. He must really hate him right now.

 “You dare call me that.” Kyuhyun glares at him, his eyes cold and unfeeling, only animosity and hatred burning behind his brown irises.

Lay smiles, “How’s everyone?” As much as Lay knows that his former compatriot would never even entertain him, he had to know, he wanted to know so badly.

 “Bastard.” Kyuhyun spits.

“I know you hate me, I would hate me as well. But I never stopped caring for all of you. Never” Lay’s eyes are looking straight at Kyuhyun, his voice soft and tender. He’s imploring for him to understand, for him to realize that it hurt him to leave as much it hurt them.

“THEN WHY DID YOU LEAVE!?” It was not anger that Lay heard. It was far beyond that. It was frustration, confusion—desperation. It was a broken plea, an unrelenting force of emotion pushed right at him. This was Kyuhyun’s emotions, all of them, seeming ready to burst. Gone was the calm and collected Kyuhyun. This were his emotions bared, raw and unrestrained.

Lay used to joke with the others that he was going to crack Kyuhyun’s cold exterior, not like this, never like this.

 “If you cared so much, if you loved us so much, then why the hell did you just disappear?” Kyuhyun moves closer, eyes threatening. Suddenly Lay feels Kyuhyun’s hands on his collar, “You suddenly disappear from the world, from the people you supposedly loved? From the person who loved you the most?”

Lay gulps in air. There’s a silence that builds between the two, only heavy breathing fills the forest. The light from the moon shining serenely on the two of them, shadows dancing in the pale light.

 “You hurt him so much.”

Kyuhyun knew his way with words, the way vocabulary constructed emotion. He knew how pauses and inflection created a sense of rhythm, how it was able to hit someone with its full force.

Lay’s eyes moisten. He smiles, defeated, to Kyuhyun, “I know.” It comes out as a whisper, quiet and pained.

“I still remember the day I left. I cried for two. The freedom was refreshing, but I missed all of you. You and him in particular.” Kyuhyun lets go and turns his back to Lay.

“Then wh

Lay heaves, “I felt like it was not where I was supposed to be. Like being in the Vanguards was not my place.” Kyuhyun stays silent, so Lay continues.

“I’ve always felt like I was different, and even though I was one of the best, even though I had a place and a title, I still felt empty.”

Lay smoothens his tabard and his shirt, “I realized that I was not staying because I liked what I was doing. I stayed because I couldn’t leave any of you, especially him. There came a point where I would stay up all night looking at the stars, thinking of what my life could have been if I wasn’t a Vanguard, if your parents never saved me from that burning building. That’s when I realized that I wanted to be Vanguard because I wanted to show my gratitude to the people that saved me.”

“I thought it was fate. Vanguards saved me, so obviously I should be one too. You and your parents were good to me. I had everything, a loving family, a title, a place to call my own, a person to love. But there was something missing.”

Kyuhyun turns around, “And what was missing from your perfect life, Yixing?” There was no malice in his words, only a burning question.

“I realized that it wasn’t my dream,” Lay says quietly, “It was the dream that I thought I should’ve had, but really, it wasn’t”

“I don’t understand.”

“It’s difficult to understand. But for the first time in so long I had everything, but nothing. I tried to convince myself that protecting Glasskeep was my purpose, protecting the people like how your parents protected me was my purpose. Everything just hit me one day. I never even tried to question what I wanted, I never asked if I really wanted this.”

“Why didn’t you tell anyone, we could have helped. We would’ve helped,” there’s hurt in Kyuhyun’s eyes, “You told us everything, why not this?”

Lay smiles, a genuine one, “I don’t doubt that, but I couldn’t tell you, or anyone else,” Lay sighs, “You would’ve convinced me to stay. If you told me to stay, I would have stayed. If he told me, I would have stayed.” Lay meant to be light, but it comes out pained.

Kyuhyun stays silent, because he knew, he knew within his heart that he would have given him all the reason to stay.

“I didn’t want to stay. Even though I loved everyone. I didn’t want to stay and it hurt.” Lay pounds at his heart, “It hurt so much. I was confused and alone. I didn’t want to hurt anyone, but I couldn’t stay, it hurt too much.”

Kyuhyun looks at him, really looks at him and sees the same boy he saw the day he arrived at his home. Lost, confused, unwilling. He was quiet for the first few weeks, but Kyuhyun told him of how he wanted to be like his parents, how he wanted to protect the people go his kingdom. He saw a spark in the child’s eye. It was him that gave Lay the idea, it was him that made him leave. It hurt.

“I’m sorry. If I knew, I would have let you go, I would have chased you out myself.”

Lay looks rueful, “But this is so much more dramatic, don’t you think?” Lay looks to the moon, its silent figure in the night a calming presence, “I thought that when I left you would hate me. I hoped that it would have made you despise my actions, and then me.”

“Hating you only meant that we loved you first,” Kyuhyun responds.

“We hated you so much.”

Lay looks at the moon tears flowing quietly down his cheek, “I’m sorry.”

“He didn’t hate you, though. Out of everyone who should’ve hated you, he didn’t.”

Lay chuckles, “Of course he wouldn’t, he’s too sweet for that.”

Kyuhyun smirks, “Yeah, he is.”

“He might hate you if he found out that you’ve moved on to someone younger though.”

At this, Lay turns to see Kyuhyun smirking. He fumbles with his words, trying to keep the blush from rising in his face.

Kyuhyun cackles, actually cackles with so much mirth and happiness and mischief that Lay had missed so much.

“H-how did you find out?”

“He described you like he did way back when,” Kyuhyun says, “I know you’re fast Yixing, but it’s been a day. What did you do to him?”

“I see myself in him,” Lay pauses looking at the distance, “he wants to discover the world. He wants to find himself. I just felt the need to protect his dream.”

“Then I guess this means you won’t be coming back anytime soon? Even though everyone would be so pissed off if you showed up out of nowhere, they’ll probably cry on your shoulder the minute you smile at them.”

Lay shakes his head sadly.

“I figured,” Kyuhyun sighs, “But have you found it, your purpose?”

Lay shakes his head again.

“It seems that a larger task has been onto me, something much larger then protecting Glasskeep. I haven’t found my reason yet, but I think I’m almost there,” Lay smiles, “I can feel it.”

Kyuhyun nods at him, “You know I only ever wanted you to be happy.”

 “I know.”

 “Are you happy?”

Lay pauses and looks around him, looks at Kyuhyun, looks at the dark night and asks himself if he was happy. Asks if what he’s doing, he’s doing out of obligation or out of genuine want. Then he thinks of Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, Kai and Jongdae. Thinks of their misadventures, thinks of how gratifying it was to heal Kai. How it felt to discover this island, to see Junmyeon, to discover Suho.

Then he nods, “Yes, I’m happy.”

Kyuhyun then surges forward and engulfs Lay in a tight hug. He feels tears on his cheek and hears the sound of sobs.

 “I missed you so much, Yixing. You don’t even know.” Lay buries his face into his brother’s chest, feels the warmth he had missed for so long. Allows the memories of his life rush through his mind. Allows the world to melt as he hugs Kyuhyun tightly. Letting the pain wash away.

---

Baekhyun sat quietly by the waterfall, his eyes looking at the full moon. The night had quieted down and the village had gone to sleep. The others had gone to bed, but Baekhyun felt restless and went up to the waterfall to get a piece of calm. He looked down and heaved a sigh.

His gloves were the same ones that Kai had given him. He kept them on at all times, only ever taking them off when he bathed, and even then, he does not even dare look at them.

He hadn’t tried to control his powers. Eunhyuk and Donghae had told him several times that his body was in perfect condition to trane his powers, but Baekhyun was still reluctant. He still recalls how the energy overwhelmed him at the orphanage. He didn’t want that to happen again.

Baekhyun looks at his hands. He then slowly takes off a glove, and sees the galaxies in his palm. The energy moving quietly in his hands. If Baekhyun didn’t know how treacherous his palms could be, he would probably would have stared at them all day.

 “Ooh, someone’s here?”

Baekhyun fumbles with his glove to cover his hand as he looks behind him. There standing was the small, jittery attendant of the young mayor.

 “Hello, Jiya.”

She gives him an eerie smile that he would have thought was spiteful if he didn’t know how painfully awkward she was.

“Hi, Sir Baekhyun, what are you doing here at this time? Shouldn’t you be asleep?” She approaches Baekhyun and looks at him, her small frazzled hair and beady eyes staring right at him.

 “Do you need sleeping drought? I could get some from the shaman’s stock, the mayor uses it all the time.”

Baekhyun looks at her, then sputters, “Junmyeon takes sleeping drought?”

Jiya nods vigorously, “Yup, he’s been taking them a lot recently. I think it’s all the stress from his job. He’s a busy man.”

Jiya looks up at the sky, “Ooh, the moon looks so pretty tonight. It’s fortunate we still have it.”

Baekhyun looks at Jiya perplexed, “Still have it? What do you mean?”

Jiya gives Baekhyun an equally confused looks, “Well, it was almost eaten, so it’s great that it wasn’t.”

 “Eaten? By what?” Baekhyun is just confused at this point, eyes prying.

  “By Bakunawa, silly.” Jiya looks at him still perplexed.

“Bakunawa?” Baekhyun asks the attendant cautiously.

 “It’s the monster that attacked the village a long time ago. It almost ate the moon, good thing Suho was there to save everyone.”

 “What is it?”

 “It’s the deity of the Naga, the Snake God. For some reason the naga were attracted to the island. One night they came playing this odd tune, turns out to be the canticle to awaken Bakunawa. Good thing Suho was here.”

 “What did he do?”

 “Suho was pretty powerful, he sealed a part of it inside the island.”

Baekhyun looks at Jiya, “And you think this is true?”

Jiya looks perplexed, “Why wouldn’t it be true? The spirit of Bakunawa is sealed somewhere there.” The attendant points to the waterfall, her eyes serious.

“Huh?”

Jiya really looks at Baekhyun, “Suho sealed part of the Snake God into a pendant, it’s hidden behind the altar.” She points to the waterfall, and Baekhyun looks over and feels a sudden tug in his gut. A sudden pull, something was beckoning him, and he could not ignore it.

Baekhyun stands up and moves towards the waterfall, letting the sound of the rushing water overtake his senses. He hasn’t told anyone yet, but he knows that his hands react to insidious energy. He removes a glove and places it in front of the water, letting his hands feel the energies within the area.

“Sir, Baekhyun? What are you doing?”

Baekhyun ignores her, closing his eyes and concentrating. He can feel the energy in his hands spread out, like little sensors moving into space. He can’t see anything, but he feels the energies, the natural flow of life, it’s bountiful and seemingly dense in this area, much like the natural energies surrounding Sanctuary, but less potent. But he feels something beyond it, it’s faint but it’s there, an unnatural flow.

He lets his senses spread more, trying to grasp farther, farther, then he hears it, a voice. It’s deep and raspy, with a dark undertone, and when it talks its speech is almost like it’s hissing.

“Come, my child. Release me from my prison!”

Baekhyun is shocked out of his stupor, the galaxies in his hand violently moving within his hand. Energies unsettling and insidious creating discord within his flow. That’s when he notices that Jiya has moved near him, her eyes looking at something behind him.

Baekhyun turns and sees that Jiya is looking at something beyond the trees. He squints and sees it, a pair of reptilian eyes, golden eyes, malicious and threatening, bearing down on him. Suddenly, there’s movement as the eyes slowly edge into the altar, its head moving slowly. Baekhyun can see flashes of scales glistening against the light of the moon. He braces himself and places Jiya behind him, securing her and moving backward.

The lithe figure exposes itself into the clearing. The creature’s torso was that of a human woman, with large, leather like dorsal fins lining its back and arms. Its face was delicate and feminine, it was a woman of striking beauty. It had four arms, one held a net that was strewn from seaweed, tied tightly and weaved into what looked like a formidable net. On another was a large polearm.

“Jiya, stay behind me. Don’t move.” Baekhyun whispers cautiously, sizing up his foe. It slowly neared him, its tail moving serenely across the rocks that line the altar.

It opens its mouth and makes weird hissing noises directed at Baekhyun, he moves backward once again, securing Jiya behind him as he did. The naga stared at him as he moved, eyes unmoving from his figure.

It hisses once again, Baekhyun not understanding what was happening continues to move backward in a circle to get them near the staircase leading to the village.

“Once we by the staircase, I need you to run to the others and call them. I need you to get straight to them and no one else, you understand.” He whispers cautiously to Jiya’s ear. She nods quietly.

Their haphazard dance with the snake creature was nearing its crescendo, their feet moving toward the stairs. Once they reach the end, Baekhyun squeezes her hand and lets her go. In a split second Jiya is sprinting down the stairs and the Naga is lunging straight at Baekhyun.

Baekhyun reacts, side stepping to evade the lunge. The naga crashes to the ground, but is once again up in a flurry of writhing muscles. It clutches the polearm and moves forward swiping low, then high. Baekhyun jumps and ducks, narrowly avoiding the strike that would have sliced through his face.

Baekhyun moves back, assessing the movement of the naga that was quickly advancing towards him. He expects that it would swipe with the polearm once more, but is taken by surprise as the naga throws its net right at him. He tries to avoid it, but the net spreads and catches him. The slick seaweed making it difficult to move around. The Naga is now moving forward, slithering purposefully at Baekhyun. Its polearm poised to strike.

Baekhyun’s on his back, the strong netting keeping him from moving all that much. He tries to rip the seaweed off of himself, but its woven very well, struggling was pointless. His eyes never leave the naga, which was now almost on top of him, it bear it polearm down.

He gulps.

__

After letting go of Kyuhyun for what seemed like forever, lay looks at his brother and smiles.

Kyuhyun looks at him, and smiles as well, before his face turns serious, “What are you doing with the druids?”

Lay sighs, “Do you remember the tale of The Twelve?”

Kyuhyun furrows his eyebrows, “Why are you asking about a legend?”

“It’s because the legend is true and I’m part of it.” Lay deadpans, his expression turning from serious to somewhat unsure.

“Surprise.”

“Wait. What?” Kyuhyun grabs his arm, “What do you mean, what?”

Lay huffs and disengages himself from Kyuhyun and gets his knife from under his robes. He then slashes a long gash across his arm. Fresh blood tainting his blade, crimson droplets falling into the raw forest floor.

“What are you doing, Yixing!?” Kyuhuyn but screams attempting to grab for lay’s knife, but lay calmly throws his bloody knife at Kyuhyun, who almost fumbles with it in surprise.

Lay wordlessly raises his finger and channels a small amount of energy into his pointer. Kyuhyun is looking at him with an awed expression, not moving from his position as he gawks at his brother.

Lay moves his finger over the fresh wound, the blood immediately disappearing from his arm, the wound sealing as his finger moves through the gash. After he moves through the length of the wound he is left with an arm unblemished by blood.

“I am one of the Twelve, The Life Keeper. I was chosen by the gods to stop the resurrection of the darkness.”

Kyuhyun looks blankly at Lay, eyes unmoving from the man in front of him. For a moment everything else is silent.

Kyuhyun chuckles.

“Of course, you go out there trying to get away from a mess, to find yourself in an even bigger one.”

“It’s my specialty.”

Kyuhyun shakes his head, and puts a hand on Lay’s shoulder, “Whatever you’re doing, you go do it. I think it’s high time that Glasskeep bough out of this one,” Kyuhyun sighs in resignation, “Kangin will have my head for this.”

But before Kyuhyun can step further, Lay grabs on to his arm, “Don’t.”

Kyuhyun looks back at Lay and find that the man is staring at him with a serious expression, “There’s something bigger happening here, Kyu. Something that I think will concern Glasskeep.”

Kyuhyun’s expression turns serious, “What do you mean?”

“You came here to create an alliance under the banner guised as trade routes. You’re trying to create a coalition but with Glasskeep at the helm.”

“Of course you figure it out, I don’t even know why I’m surprised.” Kyunhyun shakes his head and looks at Lay, “The giants are moving, we don’t know when they’re going to strike, but they will. We need to prepare for the worst.”

“We’ll help you, The Twelve will be there, just say the word.”

Kyuhyun nods, “And in exchange you want us to support you?”

"This will in with a fight, I just know it.”

“Well we did come here to offer protection from the Naga. This will be our down payment."

Lay chuckles and let’s go of his brother’s arm, “Thank you. I’ll call when we need you.”

Kyuhyun waves his hand in understanding, walking away from Lay back to the city center, “I’ll be waiting.”

Lay nods before heading back up the incline, heading for the spot he promised to be in the night. It was quite late, but he hoped that Suho waited. He didn’t want to think that it would be that easy, but the evidence add up—he was the perfect candidate. The similarities to Suho were eerie.

As Lay trekked up the forest, once again finding himself by the Cliffside, he spots the lone figure standing at the edge staring at the see.

“I was beginning to think that you wouldn’t come.”

Lay reaches the edge, settling himself next to Suho, “I ran into someone.”

Suho nods silently.

“You waited.”

Lay feels Suho stiffen at the comment, but remains silent he stares at the ocean.

“So, your name?” Lay asks smirking.

“It’s Junmyeon, but I guess you already know that.”

To say that Lay was taken aback would be an understatement. He looks at Suho, his mouth betraying him as he is, for the first time in a while, left speechless.

“Give me some credit, Lay. I’m rubbish at hiding a secret, and I really can’t handle my feelings right now.”

Lay thought he forgot to breathe for a while.

“I mean, I’m young and this is the first time I think I’ve ever felt this flustered just staring at another person.” Suho looks at Lay, he’s under a mask but Lay could see the red skin peeking from the cloak.

“So it’s either you kiss me on the lips or you leave me here to wallow by myself.”

Lay is still left silent, letting the words settle within his mind.

They look at each other, silence invading the space, eyes probing the other, looking for a reaction, a glitch, something.

“I can’t kiss you with your mask on.”

Suho snaps his fingers and suddenly the mask melts from his face, dropping onto the ground, some splashing onto Lay’s robes.

“Flashy.”

Lay looks at the young mayor, his face is in a deep crimson flush, his eyes not meeting his. His mouth slightly quivering and his face unreadable.

“What happened to all that confidence, Suho?”

Junmyeon looks up at Lay, “You can stop calling me that. You know what my name is.”

Lay shakes his head, “I don’t want to, it makes it special. Like our little secret.”

Suho’s cheeks flush deeper.

“S-Stop doing that.”

Lay looks at him confused, “Doing what?”

“Being charming.”

Lay chuckles, “I can’t stop something that comes so naturally to me.”

“Well, I’ve been on this stupid cliff for a really long time, so I’ve been thinking by myself and I’ve come to many conclusions.”

Lay shifts on his feet, moving to the little clearing where they could sit, “Come, let’s sit down.”

Suho obliges, following Lay to a nearby rock. He moves to a stone nearby, but Lay points to the spot next to him. He scurries to his side and sits next to Lay, their thighs slightly touching.

“So, what are these realizations?”

“For one thing, I’m sort of infatuated with you. I don’t know if it will turn into love, but I’m sure that I’m obsessed with you.” Lay just smiles and nods at him.

“So I’m probably going to be clingy. I’ll also smother you like you can’t imagine,” Suho inhales a deep breath, eyes not reaching Lay, “But I still don’t know if I will leave with you.”

Lay nods, “You feel that you need to stay, right?”

Suho nods.

“But you don’t want to stay.”

Suho shakes his head.

“I know what the feels like. To think that you don’t have a choice, but the truth is you always have a choice.”

Suho stays silent.

Suho moves to speak, but before he has a chance to say his piece there is a bright beam of light that rises from the vicinity of the village. It climbs up into the sky, filling the night with an eerie brightness.

Lay feels the energy before he sees it, the bright and untamed energy bursting forth, the natural energies overwhelming against the stark night.

Baekhyun sees the glint of the cold metal above him, the blade shimmering brilliantly in the night. He sees it coming to him and, on instinct, his body flinches away from the oncoming blade.

Baekhyun screams in pain as the blade hits his side, his blood painting the steel deep crimson. He can feel blood gushing out of his left side, the polearm getting lifted once more, the naga preparing another strike.

He thinks that this is how he’ll die, silently in the night. He enjoyed these last few weeks, meeting the boys had been such a blessing, even if he still felt lost within the world he could feel lost with people who understood him. It was a relief to know. He was glad to know that he at least felt the warmth love could have given him.

He raises his hands to block out the face of his aggressor, he couldn’t move anymore, he was losing too much blood. He closes his eyes, but his hands suddenly feel warm, energy gathering into his palms, and out of pure reflex his muscles tense and his palms open up, two beams of pure energy shooting at the naga. Baekhyun can feel the energy churning through his body, it wasn’t like last time. Now, he felt like he could contain it, like he could control the energy flowing through his body. So, with all his strength and fortitude he closed his hands, and stopped the flow of energy.

The beams stop, the entirety of the upper torso of the naga incinerated by the energy from his hands. His arms fall to his sides, his energy seeping out of the wound near his side. He feels tired. The cold is settling into his skin, the warm liquid still flowing down his shirt and onto the cold stone floor. The seaweed feels sticky on his skin, the thick ropes weighing down on him.

He tries to free himself, but to no avail, he had exerted too much energy. He could barely move. But the feel of the cool wind on his skin is refreshing and the stars are beautiful, sparkling galaxies. He closes his eyes and lets his mind carry with the wind.

Before he falls asleep he sees a blurry figure in white on top of him.

___

Lay rushes down the forest, his footsteps sinking into the wet soil of the forest. He can feel the wind picking up and the blur of trees lit by the full moon above. He doesn’t know what happened to Suho, but his feet rushing forward to the intense beam of light that shot to the sky.

After what felt like an hour of sprinting down the woods he hears the distinct sound of the waterfall, he was close. He rushes faster, putting all his energy to getting to Baekhyun.

Once he arrives at the clearing there are two people there. One was lying down spread eagle on the floor, a large net of seaweed placed on his side and a reptilian tail by his feet. Beside the unconscious person was a man in white tending to the lying man.

He approaches and sees that it is Kyuhuyn tending to the limp body of Baekhyun.

“Kyu!”

Kyuhyun looks to the sound of the voice and finds his brother rushing forward. He makes space beside him, but does not take his hand off of the body below him. His hands are bloody and the gushing has not stopped.

“I came here after I saw the light, and good thing too, this guy is losing so much blood,” Kyuhuyn says as he moves away slightly, “Friend of yours?”

Lay nods and gestures for his brother to let go. Kyuhuyn follows releasing hand from the wound.

The healer channels energy into his entire palm, letting life energies through his body. His hand starts to glow with a soft green aura. He places it on Baekhyun’s side and feels the gash on his side start to close. He sees the expression on Baekhyun soften as it happens, but the boy has lost a lot of blood, it will take time for him to heal.

He takes his hand away from the healed skin and does a once over Baekhyun, looking for signs of damage elsewhere. After finding none, he heaves a deep sigh as he lets out a shaky breath.

“Thank you.”

Kyuhyun nods and pats his shoulder, “It seems like your hunch was right. A fight is coming.”

Lay shakes his head, “He’s the least experienced out of all of us, he hasn’t even come to terms with his powers yet,” Lay places a hand on Baekhyun’s cheek trying to check his pulse, “This was the first time I’ve seen him use it, and I can see why he’s so afraid of it.”

Kyuhyun nods in understanding.

“He’s was an orphan like me. There wasn’t that much to his life, he was into this life without any preamble. He’s still lost, but he’s slowly finding his way. He has a lot of help.”

Kyuhyun smiles and finally understands his brother’s choice. He could see a clarity in his eyes, a purpose in his voice, and vibrance in his body. This was what he wanted, and Kyuhyun couldn’t feel any prouder.

He’s about to pat him on the back, when he hears a loud in the air. He looks to the source of the disturbance and finds himself in front of a man gasping for air.

“Kai!”

The man named Kai just kneels at Baekhyun and cups his cheek, “What happened?” There was no anger in his voice, only confusion.

“A naga attacked. He’s okay, just unconscious.”

Kai nods, “Jiya called us, nearly woke up the entire village with how shrill she was,” he then moves to stand up, “I’m going to go tell the others, Chanyeol’s already freaking out as it is.”

Lay nods and the man pops out of existence once more, leaving Kyuhyun slightly confused and awed at how normal the conversation was.

“Another one?”

Lay nods, “He teleports through dimensions.”

Kyuhyun just nods, not knowing how else to react.

“They don’t know. I don’t feel comfortable telling them.”

Kyuhyun understands, it meant that he would keep the nature of the relationship still a secret. He would reveal it later, but not now.

They stay there in silence as the events of the night go over them. They wait until they hear the sound of several pairs of footsteps and a soft pop echoes through the night.

Three people come racing up the stairs, Chanyeol leading the group, Jongdae and Kyungsoo not far from him. Kai is by Baekhyun’s head, squatting and patting Baekhyun’s head.

The tallest of them bolt to Baekhyun’s still figure on the ground, his hands reaching for the man’s head.

“You’re such a brave idiot.” He says as he sighs in relief seeing that he was okay.

“He’ll probably be out for a long time, he lost a lot of blood,” Lay says standing up.

“This is Kyuhyun he got here before I did, he stopped the blood from flowing out.”

Chanyeol stands up and then does a 90 degree bow, “Thank you! I am forever in your debt.”

Kyuhyun chuckles, “No need. I’m fine.”

“But we are really thankful, and I bet Baekhyun will be as well when he wakes up,” The small one with the large eyes says.  

Lay stands and introduces Kyuhyung to the group. They all bow and thank him before Chanyeol is taking sweeping Baekhyun off the ground and letting the limp body rest on his arms. He heads down the stairs without another word.

Jongdae observes the charred remains, looking at the fallen polearm and net.

“This was planned, it knew that there wasn’t going to be a barrier today. Someone informed them, someone from the island.”

“But why just one?” Kyungsoo asks.

“In Glasskeep, if we send out only one person, we send them for two reasons: spying or stealing,” Kyuhyun interjects, while standing up.

Jongdae is pacing up and down the stone altar when the sound of a distinct tune fills their ears.

Mist suddenly starts covering the island, a thick layer of pure energy rising like a wall separating the island from the ocean.

The group look up to where the sound is coming from and find a masked figure in a billowing black cloak standing on top of the waterfall.

“It came here to steal something. There’s no doubt about it.” The figure announces, its voice resonating with an eerie growl.

“Are you Suho?” Jongdae asks.

The figure nods.

“What was it trying to steal then, oh mighty one?” Kyuhyun questions, stepping forward and looking at the figure.

Suho gestures to the waterfall and puts his hands forward. He then opens his arms, moving his hands out. There’s a slight shake as the waterfall parts into two. Revealing a separate room wherein leis a large ornate door designed with the image of a large serpent.

“It wanted to steal the Serpent’s Soul, the artifact that would resurrect Bakunawa, The One Who Eats The Moon.”

Author’s Note:

OMG 104 Subscribers! I love all of you! Thank you all so much for supporting my story.

Anyway, to celebrate this milestone (lol) here’s a pretty exciting chapter. So that’s Lay and all his secrets, well almost all of them. This arc is reaching its , so be prepared for more action and more revelations. There’s also Sulay’s almost kiss.

If you guys didn’t know, the bakunawa is a mythical creature from the Philippines. It really does eat moons and stuff, and people would whack their pots and pans to scare away. So yah.

Anyway, I hope you guys are enjoying this! Tell me your thoughts on the chapter, and if you guys think the pacing is okay.

Comment, upvote and subscribe!

Till next time!