It’s already late by the time Donghae reached the inn. He could hear the innkeeper cursing on her way to answer the door. He didn’t blame her. It’s indeed very late.

When the door was opened Donghae couldn’t see anybody. He blinked in bewilderment. Then he heard someone speak. “What do you want?”

The voice carried an edge of frost. Donghae looked down and saw the innkeeper. A tiny, middle-aged woman holding a lantern in one hand was staring at Donghae; with a pair of sleepy eyes. They told Donghae their owner was sleepy. Yet they were at the same time doing a good job in accusing Donghae for disrupting the sweetest dream; and forcing them to open in the middle of the night. Annoyance was all over the woman’s face.

Donghae returned a genuine smile. He was sincere in his apology. Humbly he bowed. “Apologies for waking you up Madame. I’m terribly sorry. And… I need a room…”

The innkeeper was a bit taken aback. She was prepared to spill out her complaints and scolds to whoever daring to commit such a crime. (Hey Madame, this is not a crime!) But Donghae’s surprising politeness made her tongue-tied. All the insulting words she had summoned into her head were suddenly gone.

Instead she was feeling ashamed in front of this young fellow. She bowed back. “Yes please come in. It must be a long journey.”

“Thank you very much! Thank you!” Donghae’s smile widened and magically elicited the same from the innkeeper.

……

Once in his room Donghae threw himself onto the not very comfortable bed. The innkeeper was right. It was a long journey. He didn’t mind the bed being hard like stone. Anything would feel good after the long journey. A bigger problem was his protesting stomach. He tried every means to ignore it. He needed some sleep first. Everything could wait until tomorrow.

His stomach had been groaning all night. Just when the first glimpse of sunlight made itself visible in the night sky it gave its owner the loudest protest. Donghae weakly opened his eyes. He was wondering if his groaning stomach had again woken the innkeeper up.

Sighing Donghae sat up. He didn’t have any food left and it’s too early to get anything from the market. Good that there’s at least air to breathe… and to feed.

Air particles changed color and sparkled around Donghae’s index finger as he drew a rune in mid air. When Donghae finished the rune stayed and glowed for some time. And then a piece of bread materialized and fell onto Donghae’s hand. That would serve the purpose even though it’s not tasty. He’s never good at cooking. Even when one converted air into bread using alchemistic trick one had to know the right proportion of various ingredients in order to make the bread taste good.

Donghae gulped the bread down his throat. Then he made himself some water, in more or less the same way.

Next would be to get the money to pay for the room. Donghae looked around, trying to find something made of metal. There’s none!

The only option left was to convert wood into metal then. But that would require a lot of alchemistic power! Frustrated Donghae threw himself onto the bed again. Let’s get some more sleep first!

He was woken up by the noise of someone, actually not just one but a lot of people, running outside his room. The next second Donghae heard yells here and there.

“They’re back!”

“Really? Where?”

“Just entered the city gate. Hurry!!”

“Hey! Wait for me!!”

Looking out the window Donghae saw a lot of people coming out from the houses and gathering in the streets. He stared in the direction of the city gate. It’s far away he couldn’t see clearly. But it’s obvious someone important was there, accompanied by a large group of squires and retinues.

Donghae looked up at the sky. It’s still early. What he planned to do could wait. Let’s check this out first!

Quickly he made himself some coins and rushed out of his room. Before the innkeeper could say anything Donghae pressed all coins into her hand. “That should be enough.”

Faintly he heard the innkeeper thank him from behind. Donghae was feeling a bit guilty. The coins were actually the wardrobe handle…

Donghae squeezed through the crowd. Finally he was among the front rows when that however important person, together with his retinues, were approaching.

2 people were standing on a chariot. The one at the back was in ninja clothing, in deep navy blue. He had his arms folded and his face was masked. That person didn’t set his eyes on the crowd. His eyes, like those from a predator, were gazing to the front, unmoving the whole time.

Donghae examined this person for some time. The chief assassin… If things go smooth I will be working under him…

The one in front was wearing a black robe with a silver belt fastened round his waist. Even from afar one could tell the robe was made of expensive materials as the black was the one as shiny as a mirror, even though the color was black. Over the robe was a cloak, also in black, on which royal patterns of runes were finely embroidered in silver. Face of this person was the white of marble; contrasting the kind of black he was wearing. The smile on the face was charming yet cold at the same time. Eyes of this person, unlike the other, were sweeping through the crowd. They were the eyes holding sovereignty.

Donghae gasped. He’s a magician!

All of a sudden an arrow sliced across the air and flew towards the chief assassin. Donghae didn’t see him move but when the arrow was paces away from him all of a sudden a metallic shield appeared and bounced the arrow off. The assassin didn’t even shift his eyes. Donghae’s eyes widened in awe. Making metal out of air… That’s… awesome…

Before Donghae could recover from being awed another arrow was shot from behind the 2 figures on the chariot. And this time it was aimed at the magician. Instead of meeting a metallic shield the arrow simply burst into flames and vanished in the wind. In the blink of an eye a fire arrow was shot by the magician. Donghae’s eyes followed it. The next thing Donghae knew was a dead cry reverberating through the air; and a figure in flames falling out of a window.

Shifting his eyes Donghae looked at the magician again. The magician had turned his head a little towards the direction of the archer. Satisfied he sneered and turned his head back to look to the front. During that several seconds his eyes met Donghae’s. Donghae felt he couldn’t breathe.

And Donghae’s heart was frozen. That’s… very strong magic… No wonder…

Donghae looked around. He was wondering why he’s the only one getting shocked. It looked like these things happened every day here?

“Sigh! I don’t understand why they keep on trying.” Suddenly the young fellow standing beside Donghae shook his head and spoke.

“Excuse me. What just happened?” Donghae asked.

That young fellow turned his head to look at Donghae. The 2 of them were a bit alike in the way that both of them put on a genuine smile naturally. That person seemed to like Donghae as his face brightened the next instant. “Oh you must be from somewhere else?”

Donghae nodded. “Yes I just arrived yesterday night. I came here hoping to find a job.”

“What kind of job?”

Just when Donghae was about to answer the 2 girls standing in front of them began to giggle excitedly. “Oh my heart is beating so fast now. They’re coming closer!!”

“It’s the first time I can see them from so close!!!”

The person beside Donghae rolled his eyes. “Oh come on the 2 of you!! Stop dreaming!! That’s prince Eunhyuk His Majesty and his chief alchemist Lord Kyuhyun! You don’t stand a chance!!”

A girl turned to stare at him with narrowed eyes. “Henry oppa! Shut up!!”

The other girl gave Henry a soft punch on his arm. “Yes shut up! And it’s not Prince Eunhyuk His Majesty. He inherited the throne last month. He’s the King now.”

“King? At such a young age?” Donghae blurted out.

“Whatever! One thing remains the same. You don’t stand a chance!” It looked like the 3 of them had been through the same conversation many times; as they all grimaced at one another right afterwards.

And then Henry turned to Donghae. “There’s really a lot you don’t know. What kind of job are you looking for? Let’s go have a drink after this? I can tell you some very important but interesting things here.”

Suddenly the girls giggled noisily. “Oh His Majesty is glancing at us!!”

“Oh my God!! I can’t breathe!!”

As Henry rolled his eyes again Donghae looked up. The chariot was just about to pass in front of them now. The girls were right. That Eunhyuk kept glancing in their direction. And Donghae couldn’t blame the girls. Eunhyuk possessed the charm capable of killing. When he set his eyes on you it just immediately took your breath away. The way he was, the way he stood simply drew admiration. What’s more he’s the royal King. He’s standing high up there. You felt like you wanted to worship him. You felt like you would do anything just to earn a glance from him.

With a graceful motion Eunhyuk raised his hand. Abruptly the chariot stopped.

The chief alchemist Kyuhyun walked over to Eunhyuk, who whispered beside his ear. The next minute both of them were staring in their direction. Nobody dared to speak except the simple minded girls.

“I hope they are picking their brides!”

“Shut up! This is not funny!” Henry spoke below his breath.

Eunhyuk pointed at the girl in front of Donghae, leaving her on the verge of fainting. She gasped and her knees gave way. Donghae was fast enough to catch her before she collapsed.

Immediately a number of squires surrounded them and began to seize the girl. Donghae held her tight. “No wait! Why? What are you doing?”

Henry gasped in shock. Shaking his head he tugged Donghae’s sleeve desperately.

A squire grabbed the girl’s arm. “How dare you challenge His Majesty? Now let go of her!”

Defiantly Donghae shook his head.

“Anie!”

Everyone froze. It’s Eunhyuk’s voice. He spoke through his magic. He didn’t speak loudly but it’s like his voice was right beside everyone’s ear.

“The guy. Not the girl.” Eunhyuk’s voice rang in everyone’s ear again.

A squire pointed a finger at Donghae. Eunhyuk nodded.

“What? Me?” Before Donghae could comprehend those squires had seized him already; and started dragging him away.

His head bombarded with countless questions, conversation between Henry and the other girl, who managed not to faint, floated into his ears.

“Henry oppa. Is His Majesty really…”

“That’s what the rumor says.”

------------------------------------

A/N: Now you have the characters' names!!! And you know who's who now!!! I hope things are more interesting, compared to the prologues~~~

A/N2: One year ago I posted my first chapter here in AFF. And I have written a blog for this. If you have read my previous stories and would like to know some "behind the scene" stuff pls click here! ^^ http://www.asianfanfics.com/blog/view/93371

A/N3: Not sure how many of you know what happened to Super Junior earlier today (or yesterday in KST). I cried. Let's keep voting for them in kpopwave to show them our love OK? ELFs pls?