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14

--

Everyone in the castle was busier than usual. They were practically running down the hallways with no intention to stop if anyone got in their ways. You yelped and dodged a few people carrying things, deciding that maybe the castle wasn’t the best place to spend the night, so you headed out to the garden to relax until you got hungry again.

You could’ve gone to training, but you weren’t feeling up to the physical activity. Instead, you decided to skip out and hide on the hammock in the castle gardens. It technically wasn’t hiding though, if everyone knew where you were.

You closed your eyes and took a short nap, stirring when you felt someone settle next to you and let out a low groan. You didn’t even have to open your eyes to know who it was.

“How’s training?” you murmured, opening your eyes to see Myungsoo’s hair sticking in odd directions as he made himself comfortable.

“Terrible. The knights aren’t going all out against anyone, and they can beat me at half power. How am I supposed to protect you if I can’t even hold my own against our own kingdom’s knights?” Myungsoo complained, sighing heavily.

“They’ve probably had more training than you... You’ll be that strong, probably even stronger soon, so I don’t think you have anything to worry about,” you said, shifting over so Myungsoo had more room on the hammock.

Myungsoo opened his eyes and blinked a few times. So, you didn’t know that he had to leave to finish his training to be a knight. And if you didn’t know he had to leave, then you probably didn’t know for how long he had to go, too.

If she knew, she wouldn’t bother with you, Myungsoo thought to himself. He glanced down towards the top of your head as you sighed in content and scooted closer to him. Your hands were gloved, but he thought he could see skin through them. What was the point of lace gloves?

“What’s the point of wearing lace gloves? I know they’re pretty but...”

“They’re not lace. Seungho only made them look like lace,” you said sleepily, taking in Myungsoo’s warmth. His body was radiating heat, a sure sign that he probably came straight here after training.

“Is everyone out of training?”

“Yeah. Byunghee felt sorry for us, so he let us go. Sungyeol went straight to bed, but I think this beats sleeping by myself any day.”

You laughed and leaned back to get a look at the grin on Myungsoo’s face. You loved the way he smiled. There was just something about it that made you feel like everything was going to be okay.

“Dongwoo sent a letter. He says he’s coming back soon because he doesn’t want to miss the big battle between Armalis and Rivedon. I told him he’d probably be on guard duty with Sunggyu rather than fighting.”

You rolled your eyes and brushed some of Myungsoo’s hair away from his eyes. “Whatever. I can take care of myself. Besides, what kind of magic can the people at Armalis do? I’ve never seen any of them use magic before, besides my sister.

Myungsoo pursed his lips before his eyes flicked down to the locket you wore around your neck. Out of everything you owned in Rivedon, that was the one thing you refused to take off, no matter what, just in case you lost it. You wouldn’t be able to forgive yourself if you lost something so important.

"Magic in Armalis... I'm sure it's the same as ours, except their powers revolve around the sun and not the moon. I don't really know too much about it. You should ask Seungho about it one day."

"He'll just make fun of me again. He says all the answers are in the books, but there are so many in the library. I don't know if he expects me to inhale information, or somehow magic them out of the books and into my head. I'm only human."

Myungsoo chuckled and closed his eyes. "You're not only human. You're an Arch Mage. I think life would be easier if you were only human."

You noticed a hint of sadness in his voice and furrowed your eyebrows slightly, a little bit confused.

"Anyway, I get you all to myself today. I don't care if we end up falling asleep together, or if you drag me out to the river, the pond, the field. I don't care. I'm spending this entire day with you." 

You smiled at Myungsoo and laughed when he poked you in the arm. "Aren't you tired? Wouldn't you rather take a nap or something?"

"I'd do anything as long as it involves you."

--

Myungsoo was half away when you dragged him towards the castle gates. The normally open gates were closed, and guards were checking everything that went in and out of the castle.

"I think this is the first time I've ever seen the gates closed," Myungsoo said, raising an eyebrow. You shrugged and made your way over to them, hearing a very familiar voice start arguing with the guard.

"If you take those out, they're going to break! Be careful with them at least! Jeeze, you people have no sense of preserving anything worth keeping. Yes, they're gifts for the Arch Mage. I just saw her! I know her! I was one of her suitors. Will you just let me in already?"

You and Myungsoo walked past Dongwoo and a small carriage that his horse was pulling. He caught sight of you and breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh thank lord. Can you tell them I know you? I brought you nice things back from home," he said with a grin on his face.

"Oh, you did? You weren't gone for very long," you said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, false alarm, delegated my responsibilities to my subordinates and gathered up a few pretty bobbles to bring back to you."

Myungsoo snorted and rolled his eyes. "You mean you bossed around your servants and told them to take care of your work so you could come back and play some more."

Dongwoo frowned and shook his head. "It sounds so terrible when you put it like that."

You laughed and waved your hand to the guards. "Let him in, he means no harm."

"Oh, Dongwoo. The knights are back. I think someone's been wanting to see you," Myungsoo said with a smirk before you led him away and into the town. Dongwoo felt his heart skip a beat before he turned back towards the castle. The knights were back. Which meant...

--

You and Myungsoo enjoyed the cooler weather in the field. The weather was starting to get colder now, and though Joon left out a cloak to keep you warm, you often left it behind because you were too lazy to carry it around.

And now, you were starting to regret it as the wind blew a slight chill into your body. Myungsoo noticed you shivering beside him and wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you so you could sit between his legs.

You felt his chest against your back, and you sighed as you felt some of his heat permeating into your body.

“The perks of being a fire user,” he said. “You never get cold.”

“I could get used to this,” you said, snuggling in his arms. Myungsoo scoffed.

“You shouldn’t. What if I’m busy? I can’t just stop my training to hold you everywhere you go to keep you warm, no matter how tempting the idea is.”

You laughed again, and Myungsoo felt his heart ache slightly. Ignorance was bliss, but deceiving you like this was something that made Myungsoo feel like he didn’t deserve you.

I know I don’t deserve you, but just this once...

--

Sunggyu wasn’t surprised to see Dongwoo back so soon. “Done dividing up your responsibilities for the next few months?” Sunggyu asked when he saw Dongwoo’s retreating back down the hallway.

Dongwoo froze and turned around with a sheepish smile. “You make me sound like I’m dodging my responsibilities. It takes a lot of hard work to make sure everything will run smoothly while I’m gone.”

“Why are you here again?”

“I come bearing gifts. Why haven’t you left yet?”

“Armor development and repairs. I hear they’re ordering new weapons for the knights and the knights in training from your place.” 

Dongwoo pursed his lips. He might’ve seen the scroll for that order somewhere on his desk. His blacksmiths would take care of that, though. “I might’ve seen that order put in. But my blacksmiths are probably already on it. Best in the land, you know.”

Sunggyu blinked at Dongwoo, smirking at the way the man constantly glanced over his shoulder. “Looking for someone, Dongwoo? Why in such a hurry?”

“I’m not in a hurry. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Sunggyu laughed and patted Dongwoo on the shoulder before jamming his hands into his pockets.

“I heard he was in the knight’s training facility. They get touchy when you call it a cave. I’m off to go work on the Arch Mage’s armor. Seungho has a few new things he wants to add to it, just in case.”

“Oh. He is? I mean. I’m not-” Sunggyu shook his head and waved over his shoulder as he left Dongwoo standing alone in the hallway. It wouldn’t be bad just to stop by and say hi to the knights, right? It’d been a while since all of them were gathered in the kingdom like this.

--

You knocked on the door of Seungho’s study and peeked your head inside to see he and Sunggyu working on your armor. It was one of the first times you’d seen Seungho use actual magic to do something besides put his scrolls away. He always said it was good to do things yourself and not to rely on magic for everything, but you were doing a better job of adhering to his words than he was.

“Do as I say, not as I do,” you mumbled under your breath. Myungsoo peeked his head in out of curiosity and raised his eyebrows.

“Oh. Is that your armor? It looks nice.”

“It’s nicer than anything you’ll get for a while,” Sunggyu said, putting the finishing touches on it. Seungho had a special cloak commissioned for you, and it hung loosely over the chair. You could see Rivedon’s crest embroidered in yellow on the back with a bolt of lightning in the background.

Your power of lightning was the most unstable power you had. You didn’t like to use it often because it took the most out of your energy, and it was unpredictable at times. You couldn’t figure out how to control it well enough to use every day. Not that you would need to use it every day.

“It doesn’t look any different,” you said, stepping inside. Myungsoo followed you and closed the door behind you before wandering over to a chair and slumping down into it.

“Reinforced magical steel. Can’t get any stronger than that.” Seungho held out his hand and summoned a flaming sword. You could feel the heat from it from across the room, and Myungsoo had to shield his eyes as Sunggyu took a few steps back.

Seungho swung his sword with both hands, and you watched as there was a loud crack, and the amor absorbed the fire. Seungho stopped and stared at the armor, sitting on the stand and shining like nothing happened.

“Now that’s so armor.”

“But will it protect against the magic of Armalis? That’s the question. It’s not fair their powers are based on the sun, and we’re left with... well. Black magic.”

“I should. I would go test it out, but I like my beauty sleep. We’ll just have to work on it some more when we get the chance,” Seungho said, dusting his hands off. You walked over to your armor and trailed your hand against one of the shoulder pieces. The armor was cold and smooth, same as always, but you could see a black tint underneath the normal grey.

“I tried to make it lighter, too. It should weigh maybe a little bit more than your dresses, all pieces included.” 

You turned towards Sunggyu with your eyebrow raised before tuning around and picking up the helmet, almost throwing it over your head because you were anticipating it to be much heavier. “Oh,” you said, color rising to your face as Myungsoo laughed at you.

“Then what was the point of her training with weights? Wasn’t that supposed to help her get used to wearing heavy armor?” Myungsoo asked, glancing over at Seungho.

“Well, yes and no. More for speed training than anything else. This is an added bonus I wasn’t anticipating, that’s all.”

You were admiring your amor until you suddenly frowned. Sunggyu raised his eyebrow in question at your expression.

“What if I get hit with a strong gust of wind, or a wave of water? I’m going to fly or wash away because my armor is so light!”

The whole room was quiet until Myungsoo burst into laughter, followed by Seungho and Sunggyu. You huffed as they laughed and frowned deeper. It was a legitimate question.

--

Dongwoo found his way to the knight’s cave and stuck his head inside before wandering in.

“Dongwoo! Back so soon?” Byunghee asked, waving him over to where he was sitting. The knights were training with each other and whoever else decided they weren’t too tired to continue training after Byunghee dismissed them. Eli, one of the knights, was a bit disappointed to see Myungsoo go running out of the cave. He was a fire user like Myungsoo,and was making some progress with teaching him how to make elemental weapons.

“I suppose. Are you going to tell me that I’m shirking my duties, too?”

Byunghee gave Dongwoo a thoughtful look as the man sat down next to him, making Dongwoo laugh and punch him in the arm.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen all of them in the same place,” Dongwoo said, eyes sweeping over the knights.

“I know. I miss the days when they were just in training, and I could beat them without having to try too hard. How times have changed,” Byunghee said wistfully, flinching as Soohyun sent his sparring partner flying back. His partner landed on his feet gracefully with the help of his wind power and flicked his hair out of his face.

“You would’ve seen that coming if you cut your hair, Kiseop. Cut your hair. It’s ridiculous,” Soohyun said, rolling his eyes.

“No. I like my hair. It’s fashionable.” Kiseop took a few steps forward as Dongwoo grinned and raised a small piece of earth underneath his feet, making him stumble forward and whip around with an angry look on his face until he saw Dongwoo.

“He’s right,” Dongwoo said with a grin on his face. “Maybe you should cut your hair.”

Kiseop stared at him for a moment before a grin appeared on his face, and he pointed at Dongwoo before making a dash for him.

Dongwoo didn’t even have time to dodge it as Byunghee rolled away from him when Kiseop dived on top of Dongwoo.

“Dongwoo! It’s been too long!”

Dongwoo couldn’t answer right away because the air was knocked out of his lungs. Then he realized that he didn’t need to breathe. But he still needed air to talk.

Soohyun sighed as he lost his sparring partner until he spotted Byunghee giving Kiseop and Dongwoo strange looks.

“Hey, Byunghee! Sparring match for old time’s sake?”

Byunghee grinned at Soohyun before standing up and dusting off his pants. “It won’t be like the old days when I went easy on you.”

“Of course not. I’ll be the one going easy on you these days.”

Kiseop rolled off of Dongwoo and grinned, throwing his arm over Dongwoo’s shoulder. Dongwoo in a breath of air and massaged his chest.

“You know, it’s not my fault that we haven’t seen each other in a while.” Kiseop pouted his lips as he turned towards Dongwoo, pulling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them.

“I was out hunting feral vampires! They move all the time, so it’s not like I could send mail back to you or something. Once they catch my scent, it’s impossible to sneak up on them.” Dongwoo pretended to be uninterested and stared off into space, only snapping back to attention when Kiseop finished talking.

“I’m sorry, what? I don’t hear excuses very well.”

“Dongwoo!”

“I’m just joking. Sounds like hard work, as expected of a knight of Rivedon,” Dongwoo said. He and Kiseop became friends when Kiseop went through his property in search of food a few years back. Dongwoo almost kicked him out, but Kiseop said he was a knight of Rivedon, which Dongwoo couldn’t believe until he saw his cloak with the crest.

“You should’ve become a knight. We would’ve made great partners.”

“Yeah, a pair of clumsy, crazy-” Byunghee hit Soohyun in the face with an attack, stopping him from finishing his sentence. Soohyun recovered quickly from it and scowled when he heard Kiseop and Dongwoo’s howling laughter.

“You did that on purpose,” Soohyun said, narrowing his eyes.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kiseop said in between laughter.

--

The sun barely had time to set when the alarm sounded. You were already half awake, but when the alarm sounded, you were confused. It was night. Why was Seungho calling a drill when it was night?

Joon burst into your room, his face looking grave as he grabbed your cloak and threw it at you. “This isn’t a drill. They’re here.”

That woke you up for sure. You hurried off of your bed and got dressed in a flurry before running after Joon towards Seungho’s study.

“But it’s night! My sister said they were attacking during the day when we’re disadvantaged!”

“Looks like there as a change of plans.” Dongwoo and Sunggyu were already waiting at the study when Joon shoved you towards them and turned around to head out to the castle gates.

“Wait! Joon!” Joon stopped for a moment and turned around to stare at you.

“Please be careful!” Joon blinked for a moment before smiling at you and disappearing down the hallways with a rush of people.

You entered Seungho’s study to see Sunggyu digging around Seungho’s desk, mumbling things to himself.

“What’re you doing?” you asked, raising an eyebrow. He and Seungho had to have been close if Sunggyu was digging through his things like that. Dongwoo sat down in a chair and watched with amusement as Sunggyu sifted through Seungho’s things.

“Looking for... this!” Sunggyu pulled out a medium sized mirror and held it out to you. “I can’t use it, only mages can. Just send some energy into it, and you can see what’s going on whenever you want to. It’s how Seungho keeps an eye on things around here without having to leave his desk.”

You took the mirror from Sunggyu and held it with both hands. You closed your eyes and sent some energy into it, feeling it vibrate gently in your hands, and things started to move.

You saw Seungho in full armor, shouting directions as the soldiers organized themselves. Each of the knights had a knight in training next to him as he shouted orders towards the group he was in charge of. You saw Myungsoo with Eli, and both of their expressions looked hard.

“Huh... seems like everyone’s assembled. Where’s the enemy?” Dongwoo asked, glancing over your shoulder.

“I don’t really know... let me try to...” You moved the visions on the mirror around the castle gates and into the town. You saw Woohyun with Soohyun as they ran through, getting the townspeople safely into their homes. It was the first time you’d ever seen the town so empty and devoid of life.

“Where are- Oh.” You panned out the picture in the mirror, and you could see the soldiers of Armalis coming towards the town.

“There’s so many of them,” you said, eyes going wide.

Then you saw him, sitting on top of a large carriage with a smirk on his face, your sister with a worried expression on her face beside him. The High Priest.

--

Seungho could see the High Priest, or the speck that was the High Priest from his spot on the wall. It was impossible to miss the arrogance and lack of compassion radiating from his body.

Myungsoo and Woohyun gritted their teeth. Though they were nowhere next to each other, they both shared one thought. Destroy the High Priest, for you.