Exoplanet

Chapter 5: Journey

______________________________

The village had been reduced to nothing but a pile of smoldering ash, burning wood, and dead bodies. The black dragon let out a thunderous roar as he glided over the flaming houses, releasing a stream of blue fire from his mouth. With a heavy thump, the great reptile landed on the dry grass, folding in his jet-black wings and swinging his head around to survey the surroundings.

A hollow thunk attracted the dragon’s attention, and he whipped his head around to see a man clambering out from underneath a fallen house. The man stumbled around a little, coughing as he cleared smoke from his lungs. It only took a moment for the man to finally see the piercing, ice-blue eyes of the dragon and freeze.

For a long moment, dragon and man stared at each other. The dragon had orders to kill everyone, and he couldn’t afford to make an exception for this survivor. He had no choice but to kill him too, and he needed to do it quickly. He was running out of time.

The dragon approached the man, who glanced nervously and fearfully from the beast to the ruined house. Once the reptile was within three feet from him, the man bent down and hastily grabbed a broken spear from the ground, holding the weapon in front of him in an attempt to deter the dragon.

It was too easy. The dragon raised a claw and sent the spear spinning out of the man’s hand. The man let out a yelp, and the dragon took the chance to pin him to the ground, making sure his target couldn’t wriggle out from underneath his foot. A low growl rumbled in his throat, and a flash of blue sparked in his mouth, but before the dragon could make the killing blow, a high-pitched cry came from the rubble of the house.

“Dad?”

The man looked as though the world had just ended, squeezing his eyes shut with a look of pain on his face. With a start, the dragon moved his attention from the man to the house, staring intensely at the pile of ruined wood.

The voice came again, calling in the same frightened tone. “Dad? What’s going on?”

The man was sobbing now, but his voice remained steady as he spoke to his daughter. “Everything’s okay, sweetie. Everything’s going to be okay.”

This situation was not new to the dragon. He had killed families before, setting people on fire and hearing their screams of pain and grief eventually die as they crumpled to the floor in a charred mess. Yet he lifted his foot off the man currently at his mercy and backed away, choosing to let the latter go.

Again, man and dragon stared at each other until the dragon looked away and spread his wings. With graceful ease, the reptile lifted itself into the smoky air and flew away without looking back.

Flying fast in the south-southeast direction, the dragon reached his destination with a little time to spare. Black smoke enveloped the entire beast seconds before he landed on the marble deck. The ball of smoke condensed, and the dragon disappeared to be replaced by a tall man with windswept hair who stepped lightly onto the smooth, black floor. The guards stationed at various positions around the deck narrowed their slitted eyes at him, and some hissed distastefully. Crooked, yellowing fangs flashed in the torch-lit corridor as the orcs bared their teeth at him. There were no human guards.

As the man reached the end of the corridor and entered a great hall, he saw the throne at the opposite end of the room. An obsidian skull was placed on top of the cathedra.

The black-haired man with broad shoulders sitting on the throne stood up as the dragon-man approached. “Yifan,” he said with his arms spread wide, a mocking smile playing on his lips. “Good to see you’re back in one piece.”

Yifan knew the other was merely playing with him, and from past experience, also knew that it would be best to play along. He bowed his head slightly, looking away from the cold, black eyes to stare at the stone floor. “Your Highness,” he murmured with gritted teeth.

The king scoffed lightly and stood up. “You need to work on that sincerity of yours, Yifan,” he said lightly, but his tone masked a threat, “But no matter. We have something more important to discuss.”

As he spoke, the king slowly walked down the steps that were laid out in front of his throne. He moved closer to Yifan, soulless eyes fixed on the latter’s face. Circling the taller man like a wolf eyeing its prey, the king of Moltuva took his time in talking, and Yifan knew he was really angry.

“My sources have told me that you have done something rather…surprising today,” the king drawled, “Would you like to explain, dragon?”

Yifan swallowed. “It was a lapse in judgment, Your Highness.”

“Ah,” the king sighed, raising his eyebrows in mock revelation, “And I suppose this…lack of judgment is why you disobeyed my order? Such a shame, Yifan. I taught you better than that.”

“It will not happen again, Your Highness.”

“Oh, I’m sure it will not.” The king waved his hand casually. “There will have to be a punishment, unfortunately. I must make sure you know the errors of your ways.”

Dread filled the pit of Yifan’s stomach. “I will take the punishment, Your Highness,” he offered, a hint of desperation creeping into his voice, “Whatever it is, I will take it.”

The next thing Yifan knew, his head was turned to the side and stinging pain was stabbing into his right cheek. Slowly, he touched the area, drawing his hand away to see dark red blood staining his fingers. A black blade that was previously hidden underneath the king’s robe was now jutting out over the back of the man’s hand. Yifan’s blood stained the tip of the weapon and dripped onto the floor.

“You are going to let that scar,” the king hissed venomously, “It will be a reminder of what will happen if you make any more mistakes.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Yifan said carefully, although he was still slightly shocked.

The king opened his mouth to say more, but he was interrupted by the creaking of a door. A short man with burnt-orange hair had pushed open the door behind the throne and stepped into the room. He stopped a few feet away from them and bowed his head.

“Your Highness, the battle is over. We have won.”

The king lowered his arm, and the sleeve of his robe fell over the bloody blade. “I see. Any word from my spy in Sinseye?”

“There has been news that caught his interest, and he is going to investigate before giving a full report.”

“Very well then. You are dismissed, Minseok.” The king inclined his head towards Yifan. “Take him with you.”

Minseok bowed again and gently grasped Yifan by the elbow, leading the taller man out of the throne room. The two of them silently walked down the flight of stairs, passing orc guards who sneered and growled at them. It wasn’t until they were a good distance away from the throne room that Minseok spoke up.

“What happened to you?”

“I let a man and his child go,” Yifan answered quietly.

Minseok sighed as the two of them stopped in front of a wooden door with a snowflake engraved on it. The shorter pushed the door open and walked in. Yifan followed him and shivered at the chill in the room. Minseok’s room was kept at a cooler temperature than the rest of the castle since the man had an affinity towards ice, but Yifan always avoided going into Minseok’s room. His dragon disagreed with the cold.

Minseok sat Yifan down on the bed and carefully examined the gash on Yifan’s cheek, which was still oozing blood. The taller man’s white robes were stained with red. Minseok stood and retrieved a wet cloth, dabbing carefully at the wound.

“He got you good this time,” Minseok murmured, gently blowing on the gash.

“He wants it to scar.” Yifan flinched when Minseok gave a rather sharp jab at the cut, to which the latter apologized for immediately.

After he finished cleaning the wound, Minseok tossed the bloodstained cloth onto a nearby table and placed one hand over the cut. Yifan felt his cheek growing colder and colder until he couldn’t feel any more pain. After leaving his hand there for another moment, Minseok pulled away. A thin sheet of ice was stretched over the gash, numbing the flesh and stopping the bleeding.

“It’ll melt off in a while. Don’t touch it,” Minseok said as he took the cloth to the bathroom and the sink.

Yifan nodded and stood up. “Thanks.” Minseok didn’t reply, but Yifan knew he heard. The dragon-man made his way out the door and walked down the hall to his own room, which had a wooden door with a winged serpentine engraving.

Yifan pushed his way into his room and shut the door behind him. He immediately collapsed on the rickety bed that was pushed to one side, careful not to rub his cheek against the rough fabric. Exhaustion, both physical from the battle and mental from facing the king, caught up with him and latched onto his body. His eyelids grew heavy, but Yifan didn’t fight the weariness. Instead, he made himself comfortable on his left side and succumbed to slumber, facing another six hours of nightmarish sleep.

__________

Tao handed the merchant several gold coins and accepted the reins that the other handed him. He tugged softly on the leather straps, and the black horse whinnied but obediently walked to Tao side. The ex-mercenary patted the animal soothingly on the nose and glanced over at Chanyeol, who was still undecided between two horses. Tao approached the red-haired man and asked, “Can’t decide?”

Chanyeol pointed at the horse on the left and said, “Look at that brown. It’s just like chocolate ice cream.” Then, he swiveled his arm over to the cream-colored horse on the right. “And that horse looks so pretty. I don’t know which one to get.”

Tao held back a snort at Chanyeol’s reasoning. “Why don’t you flip a coin or something?” he suggested, “Heads for brown and tails for cream.”

The other hesitated, biting on his lower lip. “Actually, I think I’ll take this one.” He stepped forward and held out his hand for the cream-colored horse. The animal sniffed at Chanyeol’s hand and nudged it, and the Exo member rubbed the horse on the nose.

“You’re getting that one, Chanyeol?” Junmyeon walked up with Luhan and the merchant following him. Junmyeon led a smoky-gray mare, and Luhan was speaking softly with a burgundy horse, which tossed its head around, occasionally bumping heads with Luhan playfully.

“Yeah,” Chanyeol’s voice was more confident now, “I want this one.”

Junmyeon paid the merchant despite Chanyeol’s protests, and the four of them left the stables. Once on the road, they mounted their horses. The horses snorted at the sudden weight on their backs but did not try to throw any of them off. Junmyeon turned his horse around and lead the way towards Dalgu. Luhan followed closely, and Tao and Chanyeol brought up the rear.

Poor Chanyeol looked unsure of himself as he sat on the horse’s back. “I’ve never ridden a horse before,” he whispered nervously to Tao.”

“Oh, it’s easy,” Tao said, “Just relax and don’t nudge the horse’s sides unless –”

Unfortunately, Chanyeol’s feet accidentally brushed the sides of the horse at that moment, and the horse took it as a signal to start running. It wasn’t a fast pace, but it was enough to send Chanyeol into a panic.

“Hey, Chanyeol!” Junmyeon called when the red-haired man passed him to run ahead, “What’s the matter?”

“Make it stop!” Chanyeol shrieked, hugging the neck of his horse with both arms.

Junmyeon snapped his reins, and his horse broke into a run. “Pull on the reins, Chanyeol!” he yelled, “Pull on the reins and the horse will stop!”

Frantic, Chanyeol seized the leather strap and yanked. Startled the horse reared back with a neigh, throwing Chanyeol off its back and into the air. For a tense moment, it was certain that Chanyeol was going to land on the hard ground, but the man stopped centimeters from hitting the dirt.

An invisible force pushed Chanyeol back into an upright position and resettled him back on his horse. The fire user looked terrified, breathing heavily through his mouth as his eyes remained stretched wide from the realization that he nearly broke his neck.

Tao let out a breath of relief and looked over at Luhan. Sure enough, the mark hidden beneath the dark blue headband wrapped around the telekinetic’s forehead was glowing. Luhan hurried to catch up with Junmyeon and Chanyeol, and Tao quickly followed him, bending down to scoop up the bag Chanyeol had dropped earlier.

“Are you alright, Chanyeol?” Luhan asked worriedly, rubbing Chanyeol’s shoulder soothingly. “Are you hurt?”

“I –” Chanyeol fumbled with his words from shock, “I think I’m okay.” He patted himself on the back of the head and neck. “Yeah, I’m okay. Holy , Luhan, you saved my life!” he cried as he leaned over precariously and wrapped his arms around Luhan’s neck, hugging the life out of the shorter man.

As Luhan struggled to keep Chanyeol from falling off the horse again, Tao caught up to the rest of the group, brushing the dirt off Chanyeol’s bag.

Junmyeon heaved a sigh of relief. “You should have told us you didn’t know how to ride a horse,” he scolded Chanyeol, “What if you had gotten killed?”

“Sorry,” Chanyeol mumbled guiltily, releasing Luhan, who was gasping for breath.

“We’ll just have to teach him as we head to Zephyrgard,” Tao said, handing Chanyeol his bag, “Can’t have any more incidents of Chanyeol almost cracking his skull open before we find the remaining members.”

About half of the way to Zephyrgard was spent with Tao and Junmyeon riding on either side of Chanyeol and Luhan bringing up the rear just in case Chanyeol fell off his horse again. By the time they entered the capital of Dalgu, Chanyeol could be trusted to sit on the horse’s back and not come tumbling down because his horse was running too fast.

A/N: I decided to give you guys a bit more on Yifan's perspective this time. Judging by his actions here, what do you guys think about him and Minseok aiding Moltuva?

Poor Chanyeol didn't know how to ride a horse ;-;

'Til next chapter <3