The night was young, but the stars had already decided to showcase their brilliancy in the darkness. The woods surrounding the village were especially quiet tonight, a silent indicator that either things were either to remain peaceful or that there was an oncoming storm.

 

Fires all around the village were being lit to ward the demons away, a nightly ritual that the townspeople did to ensure their safety while they and their families slept.

 

Kyungsoo had already lit the torch outside his house. He was flitting about in his small home with a match in his hand, lighting up the tiny candle stands. Just like on most nights, he wanted to stay inside and read a book.

 

He was lighting the last stand when he saw, from the corner of his eye, a shadow suddenly move amongst the walls behind him. He thought nothing of it because it seemed to come from the outside — maybe people in the village were still moving about.

 

His panic began to rise when he heard a quick shuffle within the same room as he was. He immediately turned to look where it came from, but was soon immersed in complete darkness. All the candle stands he had taken the time to light had been blown out by a cold gust of wind.

 

He couldn’t see anything without light, but he could feel something in the corner of the room watching him with hungry and greedy eyes. Before he could react, the shadow of the intruder was already moving directly towards him.

 

Kyungsoo let out a shocked and pained cry as he felt himself being tackled onto the floor.

 

 

Shouts and cries rang out through the roused town as the villagers carried torches of fire and ran towards the crime scene. They’ve been alerted that Kyungsoo had been attacked, and only the strongest and bravest men immediately dispatched, prepared to fight the worst.

 

Upon arrival, it could be seen from the outside that Kyungsoo’s house was dark and eerily quiet.

 

The leader knew better and hastily approached the front door, signalling to his men that they should be ready to attack. Silently counting down, he clutched onto the handle of the screen door, then wrenched it open.

 

The men gasped upon the sight that reached their eyes.

 

On the ground, was a ghostly pale, dying Kyungsoo, underneath the stature of a dark and tall figure.

 

Blinking in surprise that the culprit didn’t make any move to escape, the leader wasted no more time and immediately shouted.

 

“SEIZE HIM!”

 

 

Jongin found himself tied up with a guard behind him. He was in the town’s judicial circle, and all the villagers had gathered to hear the story of how Kyungsoo came so near to death.

 

Jongin thought about how, upon discovery, he was torn away from Kyungsoo’s body, manhandled onto the floor as a criminal. He was now facing the town’s leader, Joonmyun, who was the only one sitting in a high throne, cooling himself down with an intricately designed luxurious fan.

 

Two people patted him down before announcing, “No weapons on him!”

 

He silently scoffed to himself, thinking about how he couldn’t even do anything tied like this if he did happen to have any weapons.

 

“Let the trial begin,” Joonmyun announced, dropping multiple sticks into a cup all at once. He chose the one that stuck out the most, then held it up in front of his face and closely examined it.

 

“Death by boiling!” his loud voice announced, ringing throughout the circle.

 

The crowd cheered, but Jongin could only widen his eyes in shock. “Hold on, I’m innocent! This isn’t a fair trial!”

 

Ignoring his words, the villagers lit up a fire underneath the huge pot a few feet away.

 

“You didn’t even ask for my testimony! I’m not the one who caused Kyungsoo to become like that! Do you even have any proof?”

 

As everyone fell silent to that legitimate question, Joonmyun coughed to clear his throat and covered his face with his fan. The crowd’s attention was directed to another open space where three people stood. They were the town’s announcers, whose voices were loud enough to awaken the gods and control the elements. They were hailed as: Baekhyun, the Light Caller; Chanyeol, the Fire Breather; and Jongdae, the Lightning Summoner.

 

“With a dark complexion as dirty as his tainted soul,” Baekhyun yelled.

 

“Deep eyes that only see pitless evil and sin,” Chanyeol followed.

 

“A wide mouth to spread the immorality of his lies,” Jongdae shouted.

 

“… there is no way he did not commit the crime!” the three of them declared in unison.

 

The crowd yelled in agreement over Jongin’s protests, completely drowning out his voice of reason. Joonmyun saw his assistant off to the side, carrying a tray with unknown belongings on it. Wanting to see it, the leader struck his gavel on a sound surface, calling order to the court.

 

“Silence, silence! Come forth, Sehun. What is it that you have there?”

 

His assistant walked up to him, lowering the tray to let him see what was on it. They were small black cubes, shut tight. Joonmyun picked one up and shook it, discovering that it was not empty but had a substance that felt something like sand inside of it.

 

“What is this?”

 

“Black magic, my Lord,” Sehun answered. “It was found amongst his belongings. Dangerous stuff.”

 

Growing nervous, Joonmyun covered half of his face with the fan again and turned towards Jongin.

 

“You’re wrong!” Jongin shouted out. “Those have nothing to do with Kyungsoo! I would never hurt him!! He means everything to me!”

 

Baekhyun stepped forward and accusingly shouted, “You must be lying! We’ve never seen you here in Ais before!”

 

“He’s my childhood friend,” Jongin explained. “We grew up together here, but for most of my life, I’ve set off to travel — we’ve kept contact this whole time through letters. I only came back here tonight to visit him!”

 

Sehun spoke up quietly, only for Joonmyun to hear, “My Lord, the suspect was found at the scene of the crime. We must not waste time when the evidence is right there.”

 

“Of course,” Joonmyun said impatiently. He signaled to two nearby guards.

 

The crowd began jeering even more than before as the two guards grabbed each of Jongin’s arms and dragged him to the huge pot. It was big enough to probably fit 300 people to the brim.

 

Jongin would not allow himself to feel panic. He continued to speak calmly, “I came here because Kyungsoo told me he no longer felt safe here. I found that strange because I remember this town being peaceful and quiet, so I dropped everything and had to get to him as soon as possible.”

 

The guards had already hauled him up the tall stairs and onto the plank above the already boiling pot. Jongin was to walk down a plank that was attached to a rope, and the rope would be cut to let him fall into the scalding waters.

 

“When I arrived, I saw a shadow hovering over him. I tried to attack the intruder, but he got away before I could. I had to check if Kyungsoo was okay, and that was when I got caught,” Jongin tried to explain himself. “You have to believe that I’m innocent!”

 

They pushed him forward, and he was soon on the edge of the plank. He could see the hot liquid in the pot boiling from the heat of the fire underneath it. Turning around, he could see one of the guards wielding a huge blade, raised at the ready to cut the rope.

 

“What I saw was a droul demon!!”

 

At Jongin’s words, the crowd fell silent and even the guard’s arms with the blade froze midair. At the judgment table, Joonmyun who was fanning himself relaxedly with his eyes close now had them wide open.

 

“Its eyes were as red as the boiling blood of a beast, it’s skin as dark as a godforsaken starless night, and teeth as sharp as a porcupine’s quills—”

 

At that, Joonmyun burst out laughing, interrupting what Jongin had to say.

 

“Lies! Those are all lies, foolish boy. A droul demon’s teeth are as sharp as a fearless warrior’s blade!”

 

Once those words left Joonmyun’s mouth, Jongin’s eyes squinted at the judge. “How do you know that? How could you have seen one up close without getting hurt?”

 

“Oh, uh…” The confidence that Joonmyun displayed earlier while declaring the falsity of Jongin’s claims had immediately dissipated. He began fanning himself nervously. “This trial is dragging on longer than I thought it would, let’s call it a night, huh— DROP HIM!!!!”

 

The guard panicked and brought down the blade to cut the rope. Everything happened too quickly, like a blur. One second, Jongin was falling; the next, he was out of his binds and using the rope to latch onto the edge of the pot. He managed to swing out of the pot and landed on the branch of a nearby tree.

 

“Show yourself, demon!!”

 

Startled gasps and shouts of, “How did he do that?!”, “Demon?” and “He’s a magician!” rang through the overlooking crowd.

 

Jongin leaped over the crowd towards the judgment table, where Joonmyun cursed and threw himself off of his throne when he saw he was coming for him. Jongin quickly made it before Joonmyun could escape, grabbing onto his robes. The leader struggled violently to get out of the hold, but when he realized he couldn’t get out by normal means, he slinked out of his clothes. Before everyone’s eyes, he transformed.

 

Eyes as red as the boiling blood of a beast.

 

Skin as dark as a godforsaken starless night.

 

Teeth as sharp as a fearless warrior’s blade.

 

Ais’s leader was a droul demon.

 

The crowd stood still and stared, completely stunned that the man they’ve come to follow and respect was a foul creature of hell. Jongin straightened, letting the robe that he was gripping onto fall to the ground as he maintained sharp eye contact with the demon.

 

“Kyungsoo was your close friend, huh?” the deep voice of the demon mocked Jongin. “He was the tastiest soul I’ve had in a while, I was furious when you barged in and interrupted my meal.”

 

Jongin glared at the demon, trying to maintain his temper.

 

“I’ve out enough of his soul, so he should be dead soon. Send him my regards — IN HELL!” the demon yelled as he lunged at Jongin.

 

“I won’t be going anytime soon, I’ll be sending you there, back where you came from,” Jongin said calmly as he whipped out the rope that he used to escape from the pot towards Joonmyun. It binded around the demon, surprising it to not be able to use its arms. In mid air, it was coming towards Jongin with full force, but he looked as if he had no intention to move.

 

Joining his hands together, Jongin mumbled something under his breath, then clapped his hands upon contact with Joonmyun. In a puff of smoke, the demon vanished, leaving behind a dark powder that fell to the ground.

 

Going to the judgment table where all of his belongings were, he took an obsidian black cube and opened it. He walked over to where the dust of the demon lied on the ground, and with a twirl of his finger, it danced its way up into the cube before it closed.

 

Wails of apologies from the crowd were directed at Jongin. The people of Ais bowed their heads in deep reflection for wrongly accusing their savior.

 

“With a dark complexion as rich and pure as his soul,” Baekhyun yelled.

 

“Deep eyes as fathomless as the powerful and tranquil ocean,” Chanyeol followed.

 

“A wide mouth to tell everyone the light of truth,” Jongdae shouted.

 

“… he is a worthy opponent of evil!” the three of them declared in unison.

 

Jongin bowed to the crowd as they shouted thank yous for saving their lives, then walked over to where Sehun was standing. The assistant looked a little dazed and lost, but immediately bowed when he noticed Jongin in front of him. The magician acknowledged his respects before making a request.

 

“I’d like to see Kyungsoo.”

 

 

Sehun led Jongin to a small building that served as the town’s healing spot. Once Jongin realized which building Kyungsoo would be in, he ran past Sehun and barged into the place.

 

There on the bed was a pale and fragile-looking Kyungsoo.

 

Jongin rushed over and sat down on the chair next to the bed. He took one of Kyungsoo’s hands into both of his and the nurses in the room took it as a cue to leave.

 

“W-where have you been?” Kyungsoo asked weakly. Jongin could feel his heart crumble at the thought of Kyungsoo’s voice sounding so frail.

 

“I was busy with something,” Jongin answered, while offering a smile, not wanting him to worry about anything.

 

Kyungsoo tried to smile back, but he was in too much pain. “I’m… glad you came. I get to see your face at least one last time.”

 

Jongin hated seeing Kyungsoo like this. Kyungsoo was the strongest boy in their village when they were children — he’d always protect Jongin when he was taunted or bullied. Now Jongin couldn’t return the favor; he had stayed away, travelled off to a faraway place, and didn’t return in time.

 

“I’m sorry I came so late. In fact, I never should’ve left you in the first place,” he admitted, his words spilling out of his mouth as fast as the tears falling down from his eyes. “I regret leaving you and my home, you should have told me not to go, I would have listened to you.”

 

Kyungsoo raised the hand that Jongin wasn’t holding and used it to slowly brush away his tears. “This i-isn’t your fault. It was your d-dream to become a magician, and I… I wanted you to follow your dreams. Travelling all the way to your mentor, you showed determination; having the purest of souls, I knew you would succeed in achieving your dream.”

 

Jongin’s tears wouldn’t stop flowing no matter how much Kyungsoo wiped them away, no matter how much he didn’t want to see Jongin crying.

 

“Kyungsoo, I love you,” Jongin whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

 

Kyungsoo smiled genuinely, a smile that was as bright as it could be. “I love you, too, Jongin,” he confessed, before closing his eyes.

 

By the end of the night, one of the two pure souls in the room had departed, taking all of what was left of it.

 

 

“He’s so ugly and dark!” one boy laughed.

 

“Can’t do anything right with those skimpy arms!!” another said, poking said arms with a stick.

 

Little Jongin was cornered into a tree; he couldn’t do anything but lie on his side and curl up into a ball. He hid his face behind his hands, too terrified to face his bullies.

 

“Is he crying for his mama?” another sneered. “We can give him something to cry about.”

 

“What a cryba—”

 

Jongin heard the last one being cut off by the sound of nearby firecrackers. The bullies started screaming something about a “demon” and ran away, scared of the loud noise. After a while, the powerful cracking stopped, and Jongin dared to peek out through his hands.

 

At first, he thought they really did see a demon. He was too frightened to get up and run away, but upon a closer second look, it was just a costume. Large red eyes and sharp teeth were drawn meticulously onto a huge cloth, believable enough to look real.

 

The bottom of the cloth lifted up to reveal a small boy with wide eyes and a heart shaped mouth. He threw off his costume with a huge grin and walked closer towards Jongin.

 

“Are you okay?” the little boy asked, and Jongin removed his hands from his face and sat up against the tree. When he nodded, the little boy sighed in relief. “That’s good. I didn’t want to frighten you with the firecrackers. They’re said to ward off demons. Those bullies are not any better, so I figured it would work on them,” he explained, proudly beaming.

 

Jongin could only stare, too shocked and grateful that someone defended him for the first time.

 

The little boy offered a small smile, all too understanding.

 

“My name is Kyungsoo.

 

“Nice to meet you.”