“What exactly is going on around here?” Mark asked as he followed after the faerie queen down a short corridor with walls similar to the one in the room he was in. He looked around noticing many different kinds of flowers and leaves he didn’t recognize. Trinsa island had a very limited amount of plants and flowers around and none of these were ones he’s ever encountered. A small smile formed on his face as small sprites circled around him playfully.

Hyuna chuckled and waved them off. They giggled and flew away.

“The Faeries are dying. There’s a strange illness going around,” said Hyuna as she led Mark and Wooyoung into a wide area with a single giant tree in the middle. Various types of faeries were slumped against the walls, coughing up a strange green liquid. Some had even lost color in their complexion, eyes, and hair making them look as though they were monochrome. Hyuna led Mark over to the altar at the base of the tree.

“This is the magic tree that keeps all faerie’s alive. We give it offerings of fruit every so often to thank it for giving us life but lately, it hasn’t been accepting anything.” Hyuna picked up a slightly rotting apple off of the altar. “Usually the fruits disappear and the tree revives our magic, but as you can see, they just sit here and rot now. We don’t know why this is happening and nothing we do helps the illness. I’m afraid we might not have much longer.”

Mark frowned and peered up at the tree. He took a step forward and reached out slowly. His hand stopped an inch away from the tree. He felt a strange cold emitting from it. “Weird,” he muttered. Usually he could never feel cold, but this he could feel. “Is the tree supposed to be cold like this?”

Hyuna shook her head. “No. It only started to do that maybe less than a week ago.”

“Do you know how the tree gets its power?”

“No one does.”

Mark carefully placed his hand on the trunk and flinched slightly at the cold. It pierced through his skin and shot up to his shoulder that he almost moved his hand until he felt a weak pulse. “When did this illness start?”

“About a month ago.”

Mark nodded and looked over at the altar. He reached for the orange that sat upon it and held it in his hands. “There are oranges on Trinsa island that are my favorite,” he mumbled soft enough so no one else could hear to the tree as he cupped it in his hands carefully. “I’ll bring you some one day, but you have to promise to stay alive until then, okay? You’re weak right now and probably running out of magic right now so… here, you can borrow some of mine.”

The orange glowed softly in his hands as he raised it out to the tree and waited. All of a sudden, the orange disappeared from his hands and the earth beneath Mark’s feet pulsated. Mark glanced around noticing many of the faerie gaining back their color slowly.

He smiled and put a hand on the tree again feeling the tree slowly start to get warmer. “I’ll be back. I promise.”

Hyuna frowned and looked at Mark. “How did you do that? What did you do?”

Mark smiled as he turned to Hyuna and Wooyoung. “I loved oranges as a kid. I figured the tree wanted some.”

Wooyoung chuckled. “Oranges? You’re saying the tree just needed some vitamin c?”

Mark shrugged. “Vitamin c is good for you. Though, this may be only temporary. I’ll have to finish with Somin quickly and come back with oranges from Trinsa island.”

“You’re going back?” Hyuna asked.

“I have a promise to keep. I don’t go back on my word.”

Mark walked along the path from the Faerie district with Wooyoung toward the Warlock district. “What’s wrong at the warlock district? You guys running out of magic, too?”

Wooyoung let out a laugh and shook his head. “No, it’s not that. We’re running out of food. Our river stopped flowing out of nowhere and our crops and livestock are dying,” Wooyoung explained as he and Mark made their way through the Warlock district’s gates and down the stone path. “We’re tried everything we could. The water isn’t coming back.”

“Sounds terrible…”

“Sounds like someone is deliberately trying to kill us. No offense to you or anything but your dad has expressed his feelings about us before. Who’s to say this isn’t his doing.”

Mark snorted. “To he honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if it were him doing this.”

“But what bothers me most is that your father is sick and most of our problems started around when he first came down with his illness. Now, he’s close to death and all of this happened.”

“Are you saying the health of the king affects Thyslao?” Mark frowned.

“Only theoretical.” Wooyoung led Mark down an alleyway. “But it would make sense, no? Why else would the royal families be the only ones on Thyslao with elemental magic?”

“I guess that would make sense…” Mark peered up at the castle in the distance above the buildings. “You don’t live there?”

“No, that’s our church. The only districts to use it as a place to live is the Demon district and the Lost World district. The Hunters use it as a school. Us, a church. It’s a great place to use as a place of worship to whichever god or gods you put your faith into.”

Mark stared at the castle and nodded. “That’s good then.”

“So, tell me, Mark,” Wooyoung said to change the subject. “What of your siblings? Why let them be known to the public and not you?”

“Ah… well, mom was scared I would get kidnapped if people knew… and my siblings… well, they never had the elemental magic like I did so, I guess you could say I was more favored of all of us. I felt bad when they left. Always felt like it was my fault they left,” Mark recalled. “Though I know now that it wasn’t my fault. It was my parents. My dad, mostly. Mom cried for weeks after they left and I remember she cried for me as well because of these powers I have.”

“You know your powers aren’t a curse though right?”

Mark nodded. “Mom always said they were like a blessing. Said I was handpicked by the gods.”

Wooyoung chuckled and nodded. “Well, she’s right.”

“I guess so but sometimes, it isn’t much of a blessing. It takes a toll on me if I use too much of it.”

“Elemental magic is dangerous. Of course it would take a toll on you. Somin, for instance, has told me it takes a toll on her as well. If she uses too much of it at once, her powers are weakened and she can’t use them for a while. Like she has to recharge.”

Mark nodded listening to Wooyoung’s words as he recalled to the forest. Somin didn’t use her powers at all when they were running from the phae only her dagger. She had used too much of her powers when she was blowing off some steam at Jinyoung’s castle.

“Us here in Thyslao and Trinsa island,” Wooyoung continued, “even if the royals are born with the power, we aren’t born with the resistance to the elemental powers like those from Crestha. Some warlocks I knew of had tried to learn the power but ended up destroying themself because they used too much and ultimately were swallowed up.” Wooyoung sighed and glanced over at Mark. “That may be why the king’s health is declining. He does still use his magic, yes?”

Mark nodded. “He used it to punish me often when I was younger and he uses it on the servants when he’s angry…”

“So, he uses it often?”

“Quite often.”

Somin glanced at the clock on the wall nervously as the seconds ticked by slowly. “What’s taking so long?”

Sana passed over a cup of tea across the table to her. “Don’t worry. Master Wooyoung has told me he’s alright and they’re making their way back.”

Somin bit her bottom lip. “It’s all my fault… He got hurt because of me. If I hadn’t used it all beforehand… If I hadn’t brought him with me—”

“You wouldn’t have known about the poison. Besides, I’m sure he knew the risk.” Sana reached over and gripped Somin’s hand tightly. “Don’t forget he saved your life. He pushed you out of the way. If he hadn’t, you probably would be dead.”

“That’s exactly why I feel like it’s my fault though! He doesn’t even know me and he was still willing to sacrifice his life for me! Why would he even do that?”

“The same reason why you saved me back then.”

Somin paused recalling back to when they first met. It was back when the phae first started coming after her. She ran into Sana right outside the outskirts of the Warlock district. Sana was laying on the ground in a pool of her own blood. Somin had no idea what happened but she carried her to the high warlock and begged him to save her life.

“You had no idea who I was,” Sana said. “Yet you pleaded for my life and even stayed with me until I was fully healed. If you did that for me out of the goodness of your heart, Mark did the same for you.”

Somin stared into her teacup, nodding slightly. “I guess so…”

The door into the high warlock’s place came open and in walked Wooyoung and Mark. Somin quickly jumped up to her feet and hugged Mark. Sana giggled softly at Mark’s surprised look.

Somin broke the hug and looked at the bandage on Mark’s arm through the tears in his shirt. “How stupid can you be? You could’ve died.”

“If I didn’t, you would’ve died,” replied Mark. “You have to save your dad and you can’t do that if you die.”

Somin pressed her lips together. “But…”

Mark shook his head and smiled. “Don’t worry so much about me, alright? I’m good.”

“But you still could’ve died and you barely know me…”

“And?”

Somin frowned and looked up at him. “What do you mean ‘and’? You would die for a perfect stranger?”

“You saved me from those guys back at the Lost district and we hadn’t even met yet. You even saved me from that first phae that jumped me. What’s the difference with what I did?”

Somin said nothing and lowered her head. He was right. She had already saved his life twice.

“Mark, come. I’ll get you a new shirt,” said Wooyoung as he motioned him to follow.

Somin watched him walk away and sighed.

“You didn’t tell me you saved him first,” said Sana.

Somin ran her fingers through her hair. “I mean, yeah… I did… It’s just…”

“You’re not used to being the one who’s saved?”

“No...I guess not…”