Chapter 3: Night Gathers

January 5, Outskirts of the Town of Dormand

Baekhyun sits on a rock as he awaits his companion’s return. They had traveled to a town not just a bit north of the Everdale Forest. The thick, tall trees of the ancient wood slowly making way for younger, thinner trees of the neighboring woods. Kai says there was a great battle in these woods before, one the ended in a great fire which wiped out the woods, that was why the trees were younger compared to those of the adjacent forest. They walked ever since their first night in the Everdale forest, Kai never offered another trip through space, much to Baekhyun’s relief. They’ve been traveling for a few days, finally arriving at the town next to a large, clear lake.

Unlike Everdale which was bustling with large buildings and spacious streets, Dormand was a smaller, quieter town with narrow paths and little houses outlining the vicinity. From his spot, Baekhyun could see smoke billowing from the center, most likely the merchant district. There was a small harbor next to the lake which had simple fishing boats, much smaller than those which line the Everdale harbor. All in all, the town looked quaint and warm against the afternoon sun.

Baekhyun tries to cover the glare from the sun, only to be more affected by the light coming from his own hands. He huffs, putting his hands to his side and electing to move to a nearby tree while still looking at the town. He glances at his hands, still beautiful, still warm—still a mystery. There had been nothing that would have made Baekhyun think that the galaxies swirling around his hands were capable of doing any harm, but one cannot easily forget the orphanage, or the exhaust of light and power that spewed from his hands into the sky. It tormented Baekhyun every day.

Kai hadn’t been gone for long, but Baekhyun was getting antsy. He didn’t like waiting, especially when he was alone. It was his first time venturing, he and Kai were both wanderers at this point, no home, and no goal to follow.

Baekhyun didn’t like the idea of living in the forest for the rest of his life.

Then, finally, Baekhyun hears a light poof, he turns around and finds Kai in his hood, carrying a burlap sack with, what Baekhyun presumes, is their equipment. The thief takes of his hood and drops the bag onto the floor, starting to rummage through the pile. Baekhyun nears the bag and peers at companion. Then Kai stops, finally taking his hand out of the sack and tossing a pair brown gloves at Baekhyun, which Baekhyun fumbles, then finally grasps.

“He’s your special request, dear sir.” Kai smirks, before rummaging again through his bag.

Baekhyun looks at the gloves and sees that there’s fine embroidery on the leather glove. In white thread is an image of a star, with twelve rays, next to it are delicate patterns of gold and silver. Baekhyun is astounded at the craftsmanship, and elicits a small thanks, before wearing it.

“It reminded me of you,” Kai says handing Baekhyun a traveling cloak and a brown tabard, which Baekhyun accepts.

“Huh, why?” Baekhyun ask.

“I remember you saying that you really liked looking at the stars before we left Everdale, so it’s like a remembrance of home,” Kai says.

Baekhyun is touched by the gesture and mumbles another thanks to Kai. The two have become quite amicable during their journey, Kai sharing stories of the people he stole from, while Baekhyun recalled his escapades beyond curfew when he was still in the orphanage. Baekhyun was glad that the boy wass opening up to him, but he still felt that Kai was holding back something, there was always a brief moment when Baekhyun would see panic in Kai’s eyes, as if he had said something too private, something too close to the absolute truth. Which Baekhyun understands, the boy was a thief. Company wasn’t something overly familiar to them.

“Also, you literally have the brightest hands I have ever seen on a human being,” Kai remarks passing Baekhyun a pair of traveling boots, which the other boy took as well.

“Thanks, I think.”

“No worries,” Kai says, once again kneeling on the ground, “I got us some bread for lunch, and a bit of fish, I’ll prepare it while you get into your clothes.”

Baekhyun nods and turns on his heel to find a secluded spot to get out of his formerly white shirt which was now dirtied by mud and grime from his adventures. He puts on his white tunic, then ties the brown tabard tightly over it, securely fastening the outerwear on him. He then proceeds to put on his traveling cloak, then changes his boots. After packing up his old belongings, Baekhyun returns to the clearing to find a loaf of bread and two pieces of fish laid on a leaf on the ground opposite where Kai was devouring his own. Beakhyun takes a seat and starts eating.

In between bites, Baekhyun would ask Kai about his venture into the town, “So, how’d did you get all this stuff without being found out?”

Kai glares at Baekhyun.

“I haven’t been caught by anyone for as long as I know, this was nothing.”

“If you haven’t been caught ever, then why did you need to get away from town?” Baekhyun asks, genuinely curious.

“It was getting dull,” Kai responds, and Baekhyun spots it again, the hesitation.

Baekhyun lets this go, though, he didn’t want to pry, “Your just full of mystery aren’t you?”

“That’s why I’m the Black Devil.”

Baekhyun scoffs and proceeds to take a bit of bread before piping up again, “So how did you steal all this stuff, or is this another trade secret?”

Kai looks at Baekkhyun while eating his bread, he swallows a mouthful before answering, “Multiple trips.”

“What’d you mean?” Baekhyun asks.

“I found a spot that’s really rundown and secluded, then I hide the stash there, adding as I go along,” Kai says swallowing his food, “Then I just transported away after.”

Baekhyun hums in response, taking another bite of his loaf.

“Oh, and by the way, everyone thinks you perished in the orphanage,” Kai says nonchalantly.

Baekhyun almost chokes on his food.

“W-what!?” Baekhyun exclaims, waving the bread over his head, “How do they even know?”

“Well, they don’t know you, but they did see your little light show,” responds, face still calm, mouth still eating.

Baekhyun tries to say something, tries to make something of the information that Kai had shared, but had only drawn blanks. His mind was clouded by the fact that people think he was dead.

Kai, noticing that his companion was a few moments away from combusting shared some words of reassurance, “It’s good, it means no one is looking for you. It means you can restart your life,” Kai says, somewhat bitterly.

Baekhyun doesn’t notice it, but concedes, there are more pressing matters at the moment.

“I’d kill to be in your predicament,” Kai blurts out.

Baekhyun peers over and sees that apprehension again, that flash of guilt. He could see that Kai was hiding something.

Kai, attempting to avoid any questions from the brunette, quickly changes the topic at hand.

“So, where do you want to head?” Kai asks, his face calm, but his insides turning.

Baekhyun concedes to let this one slide and move on with the discussion, “I don’t know, I want to know more about my powers. Maybe find a way to get rid of them,” Baekhyun responds, looking at his gloved hands.

“Why would you even think of that?!” Kai almost screams in disbelief.

“That’s because your powers don’t blow up things, it’s generally harmless,” Baekhyun says, rather remorsefully, his hands clenching up a bit.

“My powers are part of me, of my identity, your sparkle hands are as much a part of you as any part of your body.” Kai states.

“You’d be taking out a piece of yourself.” Kai says.

Baekhyun doesn’t look at Kai. The boy doesn’t know the feeling. He doesn’t know the feeling of something so overwhelming take over. He doesn’t know how it feels to lose control. The helplessness, the uselessness, he didn’t get it. Kai did not understand, no one did.

So Baekhyun relents, “I’ll keep that in mind,” ducking his head as he does. Kai reads the situation and attempts to move the conversation along.

 There’s a beat of silence, then Kai suddenly pipes up.

“Well, if you want to research, maybe we can head over to the Krag Mountains.”

“The Krags? As in the border between us and the Untamed Lands? What good would that do for us?” Baekhyun asks.

“Well, the Krags has the most expansive libraries ever,” Kai says, “The people of the Krags have been fighting to keep our lands safe, so, to preserve their knowledge, the kings created a large library in the heart of the mountain, it was once just a place to keep the records of monsters and fiends that they encountered, but it soon turned into the most expansive banks of knowledge the world has ever seen.”

Baekhyun is pleasantly surprised, “How do you know all this?” he asks cautiously, “I mean, I didn’t really take you for someone who has interest in the written word.”

“No offense,” Baekhyun adds.

Kai scoffs, “Don’t worry, it was one of very few books I’ve ever read,” Kai says, “Stole it from a really annoying looking kid who kept pestering his mother to get him a candied apple.”

Baekhyun giggles, imagining Kai lurking in the shadows just to annoy one child.

“Well, how do we get there, then?” Baekhyun asks after settling down from his fit of laughter. Folding up his dirtied clothes and handing them to Kai.

“Oh, we’re really going there?” Kai asks in surprise, while taking Baekhyun’s clothes and placing them in the sack.

Baekhyun shrugs, “It’s the best we have at the moment, it’s better than aimlessly wandering around the forest.”

Kai nods, then suddenly darts to his burlap sack. Baekhyun looks over, then Kai’s hand springs out of the bag, holding two objects.  A large rolled up piece of parchment and small shiny object.

He lays out the parchment, which turns out to be a map, then throws the shiny thing towards Baekhyun. The brunette catches it in midair, only to find that it was a sheathed dagger. The silver hilt glinting in the afternoon sun.

“For emergencies,” Kai says while peering at the map.

“I’ve never used one before,” Baekhyun mumbles.

“I’ll teach you as we go along,” Kai says, eyes still trained on the map. Baekhyun nods, latching the blade to his breeches. Kai then goads the other boy to join him. Baekhyun follows, kneeling beside Kai.

“We’re here,” Kai says pointing to the word “Dormand”, “The Krags are all the over here,” he says moving his finger northwest of the map to drawings of a mountain range, a bit beyond it the words “Untamed Lands” were painted in black.

“We’re going to head up north past the Wolfpine, then enter the Mountain Highway,” Kai says, returning his finger to the Dormand, before tracing it north then west to a collection of mountains.

“It might take us a week or two on foot,” Kai says.

“Can’t you steal horses?” Baekhyun whines.

“I thought you were opposed to stealing,” Kai smirks.

“People think I’m dead, I’m restarting my life.”

“You’re being lazy.”

Kai feels a hand slap him over the head.

“We’ll get horses once we get to Wolfpine.”

---

January 7, Wolfpine

Kyungsoo and the rest of the party arrive at the town nearing noon. They’ve been traveling across the thick forest with no sign of their two runaways. There were no signs of the two in Dormand, the town before this one, and Kyungsoo had grown wearier as their search pressed on. But yesterday, they had reached a breadth of hope as Yoona was able to find a pair of footprints that were similar to the ones they saw in the Everdale woods. However, they have gotten nothing else since. Kyungsoo was starting to think that they would never find the two. The young prince had not been sleeping well since. He only ever took naps lasting about an hour or so, but he hasn’t gotten a proper sleep, his mind was too worried, too anxious at prospect of finding the corpses of Baekhyun and the Black Devil in some ditch. And his mood affected the team, even Chanyeol had stopped teasing him.

The party had decided to stay at the inn for the night, the fatigue from sleeping on the earth getting to them. After leaving the horses at the stables, the party moved to the center of town, trying to find an inn to stay in, when a commotion caught Kyungsoo’s attention.

The large center square featured a fountain in the center, a pack of wolves adorning the top of the water. Large buildings lined the square, with various stalls selling goods jutting out of the spaces in between. It was a quaint site, but in the center was group of men and women, with bows strapped on their back. Civilians stood around looking at the site before them, everyone standing a few steps away from the group.

The men and women all wore black cloaks, a wolf’s head and a pine tree embroidered at the back. In front of them was a man, who Kyungsoo assumed was the Head Hunter. He had the same attire, save for the wolf’s head adorning his head. He was barking orders at those below him, his tone stern.

“We’ll divide into two, the first group heading east, the other heading west. If anyone spots the them, do NOT engage!” The man barked.  The crowd murmurs in understanding, some nodding, some merely looking at their leader.

“If you do happen to find them, send a hawk. We shall engage them as a unified force, do I make myself clear!” He screams, again murmuring comes from the men and women.

“If any of you disobey, pray to the gods that you get killed, because when I’m done with you, you will wish that you were killed by those abominations instead!” He bellowed, this time to a resounding, “Yes, sir!”

“Get ready, we’re leaving in an hour’s time.” With this the group dispersed, except for the leader of the hunters who had starting laying out maps by a table that was placed near the fountain.

There were murmurs now from all around as the citizens started mobilizing again.

“Wow, that guy with the dead wolf on his head sounds like Kyungsoo on a good day,” Chanyeol remarks from behind the leader. He chooses to ignore the giant buffoon and heads straight for the hunter’s leader without even sparing a glance at his party. The party silently following at his footsteps.

Once close to the man, he taps him on the shoulder.

“Excuse me, I-”

“Kid, can’t you see I’m busy,” the man says, his loud voice from before now gruff, and a bit tired, as the man looked over some maps.

“I’d just like to ask a question, sir,” Kyungsoo says, unfazed by the man’s interruption.

“I don’t have time to answer your questions,” the man once again says, not even sparing a glance at Kyungsoo.

“I won’t take too much of your time,” Kyungsoo insists, voice calm.

“Kid, if you annoy me again, I’m going to have to slice your tongue off,” came the rough reply of the man, still looking at the map.

Chanyeol makes a move to engage him, but Kyungsoo is quick to ward him off.

Kyungsoo does not relent, “I’m not asking for a lot of your time, I just need you to answer my question,” Kyungsoo says in the sweetest tone he can muster. Chanyeol fake gags at Kyugsoo’s tone, as Jongdae shoves him in the ribs, trying his best to suppress his giggles as well.

“I don’t give a rat’s what you want kid, the answer’s still no,” the hunter says, eyes not moving from what he was doing.

“Please,” Kyungsoo tries again.

“Kid, I warned you.”

Having enough of Kyungsoo, the hunter quickly grabs a dagger and makes a move to threaten the kid behind him, but before he can fully pivot, a hand is firmly grasping his arm and is twisting it, causing the head hunter to kneel in the process.

“I’m not a child,” Kyungsoo says, his voice low and deep as he glares at the keening man before him.

The hunter looks at Kyungsoo for the first time, and surprised that the boy was clad in full armor, a large Warhammer strapped to his back.

“I only have one question,” Kyungsoo says, his voice threatening.

“Ok, okay, what do you want,” the hunter relents.

“What are you hunting?”

The hunter pauses, “I’m in no liberty to tell you.” Kyungsoo twists his arm further.

“Arghh! What is it to you!” he screams.

“Just answer the question,” Kyungsoo says, grip firm on the man.

“Fine,” the hunter says, “There’s a band of orcs currently lurking in the woods.”

At this Kyungsoo lets the man go and drops him on the floor.

“What are orcs doing in the Great Woods, they don’t leave Garoc’s Helm, what are they doing here?”  Kyungsoo says surprised.

The hunter groan as he stands up, “We don’t know, they just started coming down after what happened,” hunter says, massaging his wrist.

“After what?” Kyungsoo asks.

“After the light that breeched the sky,” the hunter says firmly.

Kyungsoo freezes, and he feels the others tense up from behind him. Kyungsoo looks at the man then bows.

“How many are there? The orcs, I mean,” Kyungsoo asks.

“We don’t know.”

“Has there been other strange occurrences in the area?”

There’s a pause. Hesitation.

“No.”

“Thank you for your help.” Then Kyungsoo is off, the party closely following him.

He hears the man scream as they walk away, “Hey! Don’t go into the forest, you might get killed!”

When they’re out of earshot, Chanyeol approaches Kyungsoo, “I thought you were all princely diplomacy and all that stuff?” he asks poking Kyungsoo’s plate mail.

“Diplomacy only applies to people with their heads screwed in properly, for idiots, violence is enough.” Kyungsoo replies ignoring Chanyeol’s incessant poking. This leave Chanyeol with a smile.

Once they reached the stables, Kyungsoo finally looks at his party.

“We’re tired,” he begins, his voice isn’t though, it’s urgent and determined.

“We’ve been looking for days on end, our limbs our aching and we haven’t had a proper rest in ages,” Kyungsoo says, eyes steely.

“But we are not going to rest until we find them.”

“If a band of 20 orcs stand in our way, we will burn them to the ground, understood?” Kyungsoo finishes. It comes out as more than an order than a question.

Kyungsoo looks at Yoona, but before he can even begin asking his request, “The guy’s hiding something,” she says.

“Yes, I was wondering if you-”

“Could get some information off of them?” Yoona asks her eyes twinkling.

“Yes.”

“Way ahead of you,” she says heading back, “Keep me updates on your whereabouts, I’ll be quick with this” she smiles, before sprinting back to the square.

He looks to the other two, “We’re setting off,” he informs them, “Jongdae, you scout ahead, see if you see anything. We’ll follow you.”

Jongdae nods before bolting to the forest where Gertrude awaited him.

“Let’s go, Chanyeol.”

They’ve been traveling the rest of the afternoon now. The sun was slowly setting and the group had covered much ground, but still no sign of orcs or the two runaways. However, unlike the other times the group had ventured, the three were more alert, more engaged with their environment.

The journey was quiet. Tension hung in the air as the group looked for the faintest sign of orcish or human movement. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo from the ground, and Jongdae from the air.

 It was Chanyeol who disturbed the silence.

“Why do you think happened, why are orcs roaming the Great Woods?” Chanyeol asks.

“I don’t know,” Kyungsoo said, “The last time orcs roamed these forests were during the ancient wars, they don’t dare set foot here because of the druids.”

“The guy said it was after starlight’s incident,” Chanyeol pushed on, “do you think their after the boy?”

Kyungsoo closes his eyes. It was what all of them were thinking, but were too afraid to mention. The stark reality is that there may be darker forces at work, darker forces that knew what that beam meant. Darker forces hell bent on preventing the 12 from uniting.

“It’s a possibility, a very likely one actually,” Kyungsoo admits, “That’s why we can’t rest.” Kyungsoo sighs, it’s soft and almost inaudible, but it brought with it a dense fear. Because Kyungsoo had promised his father that he would be a great king when he grew up, then he promised him that he would fulfill his duties as one of the 12. Kyungsoo had broken one oath, he was not going to fold easily to this one.

“Don’t worry, general, we’ll get them,” Chanyeol assured, voice cheery.

“What makes you so sure,” Kyungsoo replies, his head hanging low.

“That’s because you’re our leader,” Chanyeol says, voice soft and genuine. Kyungsoo glances at his friend, then gives him a grateful smile.

They continue forward.

They travel until the sun has gone, now being directed by the faint glow of the moon. Jongdae had been steady in the sky, Kyungsoo could spot the hunter looking diligently from his vantage point. They’re horses move forward.

Behind Kyungsoo, Chanyeol peered left and right. The fire user would admit that he wasn’t as sharp as Jongdae or Yoona, but he still tried his best to try to look for signs of life, eyes intent on finding something. But, it was not Chanyeol’s eyes that sensed a difference in their environment, it was his nose.

Chanyeol sniffs around, when his nose begins to ache as the acrid smell filled his lungs. It smelt acrid, like rotten food that had been left outside for too long, only the food wasn’t food, it was human feces. The stench burned his lungs and he was forced to stop.

Kyungsoo notices that Chanyeol had stopped, looking back he saw that Chanyeol’s face was contorted into a grimace.

“What’s wrong, Chanyeol?” Kyungsoo asks, eyes concerned.

“What do orcs smell like?” Chanyeol grumbles.

“Well, I’ve never smelled one before, but orcs aren’t really the most hygienic of creatures, so I presume that they smell pretty bad.” Kyungsoo snickers looking forward again, but before he can start moving forward, he hears a rustling from his, right followed by a pounding.

Kyungsoo looks to his right to find a seven foot creature lunging straight at him. The orc had large, dirty tusks jutting out if its mouth, large beady, red eyes, and thick green skin. There was slobber all over its mouth, its face filled with rage.

Before he knew it, Kyungsoo was tackled out of his horse, the small boy landing on the ground, the orc landing squarely on top of him. Kyungsoo felt the wind knocked out him as his back hit the ground. Then Kyungsoo felt large hands grasp onto his neck as the orc started to strangle him. Kyungsoo was caught off-guard, assuming that the orc would have gone for the more conventional, brutish route of severing his head off, but this type of brutality was something not surprising from the creature—someone dying slowly would seem more satisfying.

There was an untamed glee in the eyes of Kyungsoo’s captor, pure bloodlust. The orc’s hand grew tighter and Kyungsoo could feel his head lighten as the airflow was slowly being hindered by the orc’s tight grasp.

Kyungsoo closed his eyes, frantic as he started to channel his energy to his throat, usually it was faster, but the obstruction on his throat impeded his concentration. But Kyungsoo could feel the familiar stiffening of his throat, as the orc’s hands are slowly slacked. Now, Kyungsoo could breathe better, as he felt his skin harden, and his face stiffen as if covered in drying mud, when he opens his eyes his throat, and most of his upper torso had turned into black granite. The orc was still holding onto Kyungsoo’s throat, unnerved what had just transpired--they weren’t the brightest of creatures.

The orc’s face moved closer, trying to push its weight on Kyungsoo’s now rock solid throat. Seizing the opportunity, Kyungsoo quickly shoves his head forward, loudly colliding with the forehead of the orc, causing the creatures to double over as the weight of granite crashed over its head.  

Feeling the orc’s grasp on him slacken, Kyungsoo quickly squirmed his legs from under the orc and swiftly, using the orc’s chest to kick himself off, flipped over and landed opposite the orc.

The orc is final fully conscious now, and finding that his prey was no longer pinned under him, the orc jumps backward readying his hand axe.

Kyungsoo looks at the orc, there is deep crimson mixed with dirt flowing down the orc’s head from where Kyungsoo’s head had hit the humanoid. Kyungsoo swiftly takes his Warhammer from behind him, his eyes now looking at the towering figure before him.

The orc lets out a guttural roar as it charges forward, axe at the ready. Kyungsoo quickly analyzes the orc. It had minimal armor on it, only two shoulder pads with fangs jutting above it. There was a leather strap that was worn diagonal over the orc’s torso and a crude fur skirt covering the lower half of the green creature. Kyungsoo quickly finalizes his target.

Kyungsoo begins his charge towards the orc, hammer poised, mind clear. They are close now, the thumping of their feet getting louder, getting faster. Then, when the orc is almost at hitting distance, he takes his right foot and bends, then slackens his left foot, assuming a genuflection, while sliding on the soft soil. The orc is surprised, but its momentum is too much for it to stop, then Kyungsoo swings his hammer straight at the orc’s knee, leaning forward and putting all of his weight into the strike. There’s a resounding crunch as the hammer finds purchase on the now broken kneecap of the orc. The orc kneels in pain falling quickly. Kyungsoo quickly changes his position, quickly straightening his knees, before springing up into the orc, his hammer directed to his assailants chin.

Another loud crack as the hammer finds its target once more, now resounding more ferociously as Kyungsoo roars upon contact, willing all his strength upward, sending the orc flying a few inches off the ground, before the hulking figure falls into a heap the ground in a loud ‘thump,’ motionless.

Kyungsoo stands, looking at his work, seeing that the orc was not breathing. Kyungsoo’s last strike had broken the lower half of the orc’s face.

He then hears a clanging, he peers source of the sound and finds Chanyeol engaged with another orc. Chanyeol serenely swipes at his enemy, his double swords slashing and swinging in veritable grace, steel clanking loudly with the other, the man moves serenely, dodging the orc’s brutish swipes at him. Kyungsoo could see the glint in the eyes of his companion, he only saw this when Chanyeol was fighting—pure excitement.

Chanyeol notices Kyungsoo from his periphery, and nods at the smaller male. Chanyeol then halts his languid dance, closing his eyes for what seems like a moment before his two swords glows a violent red.

 There’s a smirk now displayed on Chanyeol’s face.

His stance changes, then Chanyeol lunges forward then begins to spin in midair as one of his swords parries yet another strike, as Chanyeol lands on the ground he kneels as he ends his spin his swords directed at the orcs hip. There’s a swift swoosh as the hot metal slid fluidly across the orc, effectively slicing the orc in half. Chanyeol stands straight and directs a smile towards Kyungsoo, “Alright there, sir?”
 

“Never better,” Kyungsoo scoffs.

Chanyeol approaches Kyungsoo about to give another response, but before anything could utter another word they hear another rustling and see two more orcs lunging forward. The two ready their stances, but before the orcs could come closer, there are two flashes of blue, one hitting an orc at the back of its next, the other finding purchase at the other orc’s shoulder.

The one hit on the neck starts to squirm as violent electricity raced throughout its body and down its spine. The orc falls on the ground, paralyzed, still violently jerking on the forest floor.

The other orc also squirmed and jerked as the arrow jolted it. But this one still moved forward, though a bit more sluggishly. It roars in anger, trying to quicken its pace, but is hindered by the energy coming from the arrow. It tries to move forward, axe at the ready, both Kyungsoo and Chanyeol were prepared to slay this one as soon as it neared, but before it could even take another step, another flash of blue strikes at the orc, now straight landing gracefully through its eye socket.

The orc stops, then convulses as lightning churned through its head, effectively destroying the organs on its face. The orc, like its companion, drops to the floor. Dead.

Kyungsoo was always awed at how good Jongdae was.

However, the group was not yet out of , Chanyeol and Kyungsoo look outward, trying to see if there were any other orcs hidden in the bushes. After they’ve concluded that there truly no more assailants in the area, Kyungsoo loosened his grip on Oathkeeper, then strapped it back onto its strap, then slowly reverted his skin back to normal flesh.

From his side, Chanyeol sheathed his swords and was checking himself if he had any wounds. Kyungsoo did the same, sensing nothing, the shorter dusted himself of the dirt from their encounter. He then hears a soft wooshing as Jongdae and Gertrud lands in front of them.

“You guys know how much I hate shooting from Gertrude, it’s so complicated,” Jongdae grumbles as he approaches the two.

For the first time in quite a while, the three shared a laugh. It was light and refreshing. The three suddenly looked at each other, there was understanding in those glances, suddenly their eyes didn’t seem to be sunken anymore, their movements less groggy. Suddenly, the air wasn’t silent anymore.

“I’ve checked the immediate perimeter, it looks like this group either strayed from the group or was a search party.” Jongdae says, “It seems they’re not far off, the tracks are warm.”

Kyungsoo nods, “So, the orcs truly are in the forest, we won’t be resting any time soon, and we don’t have horses-”

“Don’t worry yourself there, general, we’ve got all the energy to sprint to Winter’s Foot if you’d like.” There was Chanyeol, lighter, more brilliant in the dreary night.

 “Jongdae, I think it would be best that you lead us, you’re our best tracker. We need you here.” The hunter nods, moving to his eagle and gesturing for her to trail them from the sky. The eagle gives a curt nod in Jongdae’s direction then flies off into the night.

“Have you sent a message to Yoona, does she know where to go?”

“Sent an owl before I came here, she’ll know.” Jongdae assures.

Kyungsoo gives a curt nod. He should be tired by now, his legs should give out, his body should be laying on the floor unmoving, but Kyungsoo doesn’t feel the fatigue. He thought that carrying the weight of the word was taxing, horrible, unbearable. But he didn’t feel this as he marched onward. Maybe it was because of the other two who were seemingly carrying it with him.

Kyungsoo gestures the hunter to take the lead, with Kyungsoo in the middle and Chanyeol taking the rear. The three venture forth, Jongdae moving to the spot where he found the tracks, and soon enough the group reaches a small clearing where the soil is mused, and the grass flat. The small piece of earth had large boot marks riddling the place, heaving, heavy footprints crisscrossing in every which way.

“This is the spot, it looked like they set up camp here for a while, there are marks of fires,” Jongdae mutters, pointing at a black circle in the middle of the ground.

“We’ll just have to follow them, then.” Kyungsoo says, and follow they do. The group travels forth, following Jongdae as they trudge forward. Their trip continuous without interruption until Jongdae spots a fork in the trail that they were following. The hunter makes for a stop and looks at the tracks.

The footsteps are normal moving forward, but suddenly a group of feet veer to the right into the thicker part of the forest.

“Guys, could you stay put first, there are tracks that don’t follow the main group, I’ll follow this one first to find out if it leads somewhere.” Kyungsoo and Chanyeol nod in understanding before they settle themselves by some trees.

Jongdae hastily followed the foot prints, these footprints’ indents were deeper, more forceful.

A chase.

The hunter’s heart races as he follows the trail, and Jongdae finds himself in a large expanse of land, with no proper trail to follow as the footprints scatter. Jongdae curses, he follows one pair of large footprints, then he sees it, a mangled tree bark. Most likely struck by a hand axe.

Then, Jongdae sees it. He freezes, heart now beating erratically in his ribcage. He slowly approaches the footsteps, that’s when he clearly sees it.

A pair of smaller footprints.

Jongdae’s eyes go wide. They were here.

He looks around and tries to move in a bit farther, trying to find a clue, something that would hopefully help them in their search. Jongdae feels tense, his eyes roaming the vast expanse of land for something, some sort of clue.

A glimpse of silver and gold catches Jongdae’s attention. He approaches the object, his footsteps antsy.

It’s a leather glove. A white star embroidered in the center, delicate patters of gold and silver surrounding it.

---

Author’s note:

I'm planing to create a map to illustrate where the hell everyone is going later. I'll probably post it as a chapter.

How did you guys like the very first fighting scene? Please do tell me if it was . Hahah

Anyway, the next chapter will show what ever happened to our dynamic duo.

Again, voting and comments are very helpful. Please do comment, it motivates me to update. :)