--

20

--

If Myungsoo had a choice between unbearable pain and Woohyun, he would choose unbearable pain ten times over.

But when he stared at the claws in the device that Seunggi built, he was beginning to rethink his choice.

“Uh... Seunggi. What exactly is that?” Soohyun asked, arms across his chest as he raised an eyebrow at the device. It held the small red eternity stone in the middle, and left a gold ring with inscriptions around it. Truthfully, Myungsoo thought it belonged on a scepter and not attached to his chest.

“Oh, just a little thing I invented to enhance and unblock his powers. It should be able to harness the power of that binding spell on him and put it to good use. And like any eternity stone, boost his life until it gets destroyed.”

“And those claws are... supposed to hold it to his chest?”

“Why, yes. Why else would they be there?” Soohyun turned a little bit green and took a step back as Seunggi stepped forward towards Myungsoo, making him gulp slightly.

“You couldn’t make them a little bit shorter? Is it really necessary?”

Seunggi gave him a grave expression and leaned over until he was a few inches away from Myungsoo’s face. “Would you rather risk it being ripped off of your body by accident?”

“Is it ever an accident if you rip something off of someone’s body?” Soohyun asked in disbelief. Seunggi’s expression suddenly turned into a smile as he leaned back.

“I’m just saying. It’s better to be safe than sorry. Now, Myungsoo, I must tell you, this is dangerous. This is the first time anyone’s ever tried something like this on a non-warlock, and I’m not exactly sure what all of the dangers are, but since you’ll be here for the next hundred years, it would make for amazing research potential.”

Myungsoo took in a deep breath and sat back in the chair. His shirt was already off, and Seunggi’s calculations and drawings were all over his chest, to determine the exact spot of where the stone was going.

“Seunggi, are you sure about this? He’s one of our best trainees, and not to mention, the Arch Mage is waiting for him to come back. I’m not going to be the bearer of bad news to her,” Soohyun said, narrowing his eyes.

“Oh. Well. I’m sure it will be fine. Think of it this way. If it works, he’ll live for the next hundred of years.”

“And if it doesn't, I’ll live for another hundred seconds. Just get it over with,” Myungsoo said, taking in another deep breath and letting it out before closing his eyes.

“Alright. This might hurt a little bit.”

--

You had some clothes packed, and Woohyun was carrying your bags out to the carriage waiting for you at the entrance to the castle. A few days had passed since you got married. The reception was long and dull, and you probably would’ve died of boredom if Woohyun didn’t keep trying to make you laugh while you were talking to important people.

“Now, as soon as you come back, you’ll get a few days of rest, then it’ll be back to training with me. Byunghee has his hands full with the new trainees. He’s not as young as he used to be,” Seungho said with a chuckle. You laughed and nodded, hugging Seungho before turning towards the carriage.

“Enjoy your honeymoon. I hear Woohyun’s taking you somewhere very nice.”

Woohyun walked up next to you and kissed your temple before looking over to Seungho. “You didn’t spoil where I was taking her, did you?”

“No, no. Go on.”

Woohyun smiled at you and offered you his arm. You took it and grinned, leaning your head on it as he led you to the carriage, helping you up to the driver’s seat before hopping up next to you.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see. I know you’ll like it.”

--

As you got closer to the edge of the woods, you started to get nervous. This was the first time you’d be venturing so far away from the castle, but at least Woohyun was there, and he knew where he was going. At least, you hoped he knew where he was going.

“Woohyun, you know where you’re going, right?” He felt your grip on his arm tighten a little bit, and he rolled his eyes before reaching over to loosen your fingers.

“Yes, I know where we’re going and how to get there. You just sit there under the blankets, stay warm, and look pretty.”

It was your turn to roll your eyes as you sighed. A small, white mist appeared as you shivered before resigning to snuggling underneath your blankets and staring around at the scenery.

The carriage moved past the field, and you stared at it, smiling fondly as you remembered your first kiss with Woohyun after playing a game of tag. Then suddenly, something squeezed your heart, and you frowned, gripping at the blankets.

That was weird, you thought. Why did you feel sad about your first kiss with Woohyun?

“Are you okay? Warm enough? Do I need to come under there with you?” Woohyun asked, smile on his face. You stared at his face for a moment before smiling back and shaking your head.

“No. You’d take away more heat than provide any. Vampires don’t exactly produce much heat from their dead bodies,” you said.

“Dead body? Is that all I am to you?” Woohyun pouted and jutted out his bottom lip at you, making you give him a look of disbelief. He laughed and reached over to ruffle your hair underneath the hood of your cloak.

“No, you’re not just a dead body,” you said, “you’re my dead body.”

“How romantic.”

--

“Are we there yet?”

“No.”

“Are we there yet?”

“No.”

“Are we there yet?”

“If you ask me one more time, I’m turning this carriage around and taking you back to the castle.”

--

Woohyun made good speed, and the rocking of the carriage eventually lulled you to sleep. It wouldn’t take long to get to the ocean from the castle of Rivedon, but the sun would be close to rising if he didn’t hurry up.

He glanced over at your sleeping figure next to him and sighed. You two were really married. You really love him. So why wasn’t he happy?

--

You felt someone lift you up gently and carry you somewhere. A door opened, and you were placed gently on something soft. You tried to open your eyes, and it didn’t work until you heard something drop, jerking you out of your sleep, making you sit up and rub at your eyes.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. I just wanted to get a fire started so it wouldn’t be so cold in here for you.”

You blinked sleepily and looked around at the unfamiliar place. It looked like a small hut, and you could hear something foreign outside. “Woohyun, where are we?”

Woohyun managed to get the fire started and fed it a little bit of wind. After a few moments, the fire was roaring merrily in the fireplace. The room would be warm in no time. He smiled at you and jerked his head towards the window.

You rolled over on the couch and moved closer to the window, squinting your eyes to get a better look. You saw waves rolling up onto the beach. The beach?

“Woohyun... Are we at the ocean?” He grinned at you and nodded before sitting down next to you, hiding something behind his back.

“I know you’ve always wanted to see the ocean for yourself. I’ve got a boat out there for us to go sailing for a bit tomorrow. There’s a small town a little on down by the road, but for the most part, it’s just us here for the next two weeks.”

Your smile grew impossibly wide as you jumped on him and kissed him, making him laugh into your kiss as he fell back and wrapped his arms around you. “So I take it you like it?”

“Like it? I love it! Thank you so much, Woohyun!”

“Don’t thank me yet. I still want to take you traveling around the rest of the land of the dead, but Seungho wouldn’t let me until you got further in your training.”

You snuggled into his chest and sighed, staring at the fire in the fireplace. There was something about it that seemed familiar, but you couldn’t put your finger on it. It felt like you were trying to remember something, and it was right there on the edge of your mind, but you couldn’t quite figure it out.

“Also... I have something else for you. I had it made as soon as you accepted my proposal, but it didn’t get to the castle until yesterday.” Woohyun sat up, pushing you down onto his lap slightly as you sat up with him. He held a small box in between the two of you, and you leaned back to take it with a curious expression on your face.

You opened it up and stared. “Woohyun. What is this?”

“Your engagement ring. I know it’s a little bit late and all, especially since we’re already married, but I wanted you to have it. You can wear it with your wedding band. The two side stones are water element stones to help boost your power, and in the middle is a diamond.”

“I. Woohyun. It’s.”

“You can thank me better than that, right?” Woohyun asked, raising an eyebrow at you. You laughed and leaned forward to kiss him as he slipped it onto your finger. He wrapped his arms around your waist and squeezed you before pulling away with a smile.

“Well, we are here alone. We could...” Your voice trailed off as you leaned your head towards the bedroom with a devious look on your face.

Woohyun blinked a few times before grabbing your arms and furrowing his eyebrows. “Who are you, and what have you done to my modest wife?”

“Are you saying you don’t want to?” you asked with a pout. Woohyun stared at you for a moment before picking you up and moving to the bedroom, your laughter ringing out as he carried you over his shoulder.

--

Sungyeol and the other trainees winced when they heard Myungsoo yelling from Seunggi’s house. Soohyun appeared in the doorway and beckoned for Eli to come inside. He was having problems holding down Myungsoo by himself.

“What do you think they’re doing to him in there?” one of the trainees asked, turning to Sungyeol. Sungyeol shrugged his shoulders and frowned.

“Maybe they’re turning him into a Frankenstein. Myungsoo said they were giving him an eternity stone, but then he came back from visiting Seunggi telling me he was really a mage and not a warlock and started spewing nonsense about a curse or something, I dunno. I was only half listening and trying to sleep.”

“But if he’s not a warlock, then wouldn’t that eternity stone kill him?” Everyone winced when Myungsoo let out another yell that sounded nothing short of a howl of pain.

“It sounds like it is,” Sungyeol said, cringing. He hoped that he still had his best friend when this was all over.

--

Myungsoo was passed out on the chair as Seunggi looked over him a few more times, pressing his hands to the side of his neck and checking how the eternity stone was affecting Myungsoo’s body with an array of magical instruments.

“Is he going to be okay?” Eli asked, eyeing the boy.

“Yes, seems like he’ll be fine. The eternity stone is currently absorbing the curse binding his powers. You can even see it, look.” Eli saw something blue swirling inside of the red stone and raised an eyebrow. Soohyun had to leave after Myungsoo started bleeding more than Seunggi expected.

The stone started to pulse red for a moment before going dull. Myungsoo’s eyes opened, and he groaned, bringing a hand up to rub his eyes for a moment.

“Myungsoo! How do you feel? This is the greatest experiment for the land of the dead in centuries!”

“Glad you’re enjoying this,” Myungsoo groaned, pushing himself up into a sitting position. He could feel the claws in his chest, digging into his ribs. He didn’t want to know where the ends of the claws were. “Did you just shove this straight in?” Myungsoo asked, staring down at his chest with a frown.

“No. Well, yes. I shoved it straight in over your heart and bent the claws around your bone so you don’t have to worry about it falling off.”

Myungsoo frowned a little bit before poking at the stone and wincing. It wasn’t huge. It wouldn’t be anything anyone would be able to see if he had his shirt on over it. His chest felt incredibly sore, but it wasn’t bleeding anymore.

“I healed you up enough so that you’d stop bleeding. Soohyun looked like he was about to eat you until Eli shoved him outside. I would suggest you keep your movements slow, and avoid sudden movements and heavy training for the first month.”

Myungsoo furrowed his eyebrows as Seunggi put away his devices and handed Myungsoo his shirt.

“Heal? Isn’t that white magic?”

“Yes. I used to be from Armalis, until I got run out for my radical ideas. I can say people here in the land of the dead are a bit more open minded to my experiments.”

“What other kind of magic can the people in the land of the living do?”

“Oh, not much really. Black magic is frowned upon. They mostly have healers, holy magic to ward off the “dead,” and green magic. Shields, and illusions, and such. You’ll be seeing a lot of me for the first month. I want to see where your powers are.”

--

As soon as Myungsoo stepped foot outside of Seunggi’s house, he was bombarded by his friends.

“Myungsoo, are you okay?”

“I’ve never heard you yell like that before.”

“What did they do to you?”

“Okay, everyone. Leave him alone. He just went through something possibly traumatic. Move along, move.” Eli came out of the house and shoo’d everyone else away, making Myungsoo take a deep breath.

“How’re you feeling?”

“Like someone dropped a castle on my chest. But other than that, I feel... fine.” Eli nodded, patting him on the shoulder.

“Well, since Seunggi says you’re not fit for heavy training yet, you’ll be here with him to work on your magic until you give out. Everyone else will be doing physical training out there, then coming back here to work on magic until they pass out.” Eli gestured towards the looming forest past the end of the small village.

“Hope this won’t put a dent in your plans.”

“Of course not. I have a hundred years here, don’t I?” Eli chuckled and patted him on the back, making Myungsoo wince again.

“Oh, right. My bad.”

--

Myungsoo avoided all questions as soon as he entered the dorm and went straight to his room for some peace and quiet. He glanced out of his window and sighed, his thoughts turning to you.

Truthfully, if you weren’t waiting for him when he came back, then he didn’t want to go back. But there was always a small chance that you were, despite what he said to you. Unless you did what he told you and learned to love Woohyun instead.

He felt his heart twinge again, and this time, he knew it wasn’t from his newly installed eternity stone on his chest. He could feel the cool metal of the device it was set in on his chest, and it made him shiver a little bit.

What was he now? A freak of nature? Something that wasn’t meant to exist? What did he exist for? You smiling face appeared in his memory again, extending a hand out for him to grab.

For you. I exist for you.

--

Two weeks passed by sooner than you would’ve liked. You could hardly remember everything that happened on the honeymoon, and you attitude change about the bedroom was something Woohyun hoped would stay when you returned to the castle.

You were never going to forget standing at the front of the boat while Woohyun and his crew sailed the boat out over the ocean. It was freezing, but you kept your body warm with a constant flow of fire through your body. Woohyun complained about burning himself once.

The ocean was so peaceful, especially the way the waves rolled and how quiet it was, save for the sounds of splashing water. You were sad to leave it behind, but happy to get back to the castle. You were starting to miss people already.

As soon as you made it back to the castle, Joon was there to take your things back to your room with a quick kiss to your temple and an ‘I missed you.’ Woohyun wrapped an arm around your waist and started to lead you back to your room before Seungho intercepted you.

“I’d like to talk to the Arch Mage, if you don’t mind,” Seungho said, smiling at you. You nodded and shoved Woohyun towards your room, saying you’d be by later. Woohyun frowned a little bit about being separated so soon after you two just got back, but resigned when Seungho gave him a stern look.

You sat down in Seungho’s study, content smile on your face.

“Don’t you look refreshed? And you’re practically glowing. Enjoying married life?”

You shrugged. “It’s pretty nice so far. It’s only been a few weeks, so ask me again in a few years,” you said with a laugh. Seungho chuckled and sat back in his chair.

“Are you ready to start training again soon? I’ll be training you now since Byunghee has his hands full.”

“Yes, I am. It’s nice doing nothing, but I feel kind of useless just doing nothing all of the time.” Seungho nodded.

“Understandable. I’m interested to see how much your powers have increased. Have you tried using them yet?”

You shook your head. “Not yet. I want to see, too. My stamina is up! That’s for sure.”

“How do- Nevermind. Nevermind, I don’t want to know how you know that.” You blinked a few times as Seungho pinched the bridge of his noise. It only took you a few seconds to realize what you said, and your face flushed red.

“Oh my lord, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“Let’s just forget you said anything and move on.”