Hongbin had never been good at sneaking. Something about the light always shining on him, from every source, at any point in time, made him so unbelievably visible he had given up on the talent. That was why he was currently wringing his hands in the sun, while a young man in dark, muddy clothes, struggled into an open cave leading into the dank darkness of the underground.

Hongbin was jealous. He wanted very much, more than anything, to be the one to sneak down into those caves. He would have loved to walk through the crystal halls, seeing them sparkle in all the colours of the world. To follow the stream, trickling along the bottom of the hall, to the great lake beyond, then walk across the shallow blue water,  to the large island in the middle, bow through the curtains of moss... He knew the path, knew the beauty of each step. Hongbin had gone before, and he would go again, but not today. Today, the cave's owner was at home, and he was awake.

And so Hongbin sat, sulking, as he watched the last bit of leather-covered bum vanish beneath the ferns. It would be a long wait, no doubt. Humans in particular tended to freeze completely at the first sight of Him. What they called him later, varied, but they all were struck by awe in the face of Leo, god of earth and the dead. He was also the god of jewels, crystals, and metals, but no one really remembered that after crawling through the dark and the mud for so long. Everyone always thought of graves, and tombs. Humans. Everything always had to be about death. If it wasn't about love. Then it would be abouth death and love.

He sat until the sun set, then glowed through the night like an overgrown lightbug. Actual lightbugs flirted with him now and then, and shy nightlife glared at him accusingly, before flying, crawling, or slinking off the other way. A deer lay down beside him for a few hours, and Hongbin smiled, remembering when he'd first seen the elegant clay figurine of the animal. He'd been terrified he'd drop it and break the thin legs forevermore, but then he'd given it his breath, and soon it sprinted off, multiplying by the hair. The effect only lasted a couple hours, but that was all it took. Now, deer grazed the lands across the continent, from the islands in the west to the islands in the east. He wondered when they'd learnt how to swim.

As the sun peaked across the horizon, the ferns started rustling, and the deer shot off into the early morning dark. Hongbin no longer cared about the deer, however, watching instead as a muddy grey hand reached through the ferns, clutching the edge of the concealed opening. As the human pulled himself through the opening, soaked through with mud, Hongbin felt more than saw the sparkle coming from inside the man's elbow. The crystals were nearly covered with mud, but Hongbin felt his heart pulling him towards it, like the needle of a compass to a magnet. He couldn't wait to get his hands on it, but a yowling sound roared through the earth, and he knew he was out of time.

"You have done well, young one," he quickly told the startled human, "You retrieved my dearest jewel from the beast below, and I thank you. Now, run. Keep running for the rest of this day, until the sun sets again, and you'll be safe. I'll cover your tracks. Good luck." He took the jewel, and with a swish of his other hand, the man stood dry and clean before him, glowing slightly from the divine touch. The man bowed, nodded half a dozen times while walking backwards, before sprinting off into the dim of the trees.

Looking down, Hongbin admired the sparkling crystals, held together by thin threads of platinum and gold. The butterfly was a creature he had breathed life into a long time ago, but this crystal creature put all such to shame. Wings of green, yellow, orange, and red, a body of purple, jet black, and deep blue, she shone with the rainbow. Knowing exactly what to do, Hongbin released a breath of shining air onto the crystals, and watched as they begun to glow.

As crystals turned to life, the yowling from the caves grew louder. Hongbin threw the new creature into the air, let an early bird pick her up, then ran.

"Have a beautiful life." he whispered, praying, and the words flew as a ray of light through the air, following the bird, catching up, and settled onto the crystal girl. He hoped a prayer from a god would help as much as any other.

~~*~~

As Leo, god of earth and all things below, crashed through the ferns, light burnt his eyes. Crashing to his knees, Leo cried. He'd lost it. He'd lost his crystal! And now he couldn't see, how would he ever find it? By the time his earthly healing let him see again, it'd be long gone. How he wished he had been better at tracing, but that was unfortunately a myth. Instead, he cried, hoping the tears would speed the healing. 

They probably wouldn't, but he couldn't seem to stop. It was gone. His crystal was gone, and he couldn't find it.

But maybe N could.

Sobs quieting by the hour, Leo sniffled until sunset, and once night had dropped, he set off towards the seaside of Yeongnam, hoping N hadn't moved too far away.