When KyuJong woke up, he found himself in a soft bed. He immediately sprang up, seeing everyone worried. Just then, he remembered what had happened.

He rummaged his pocket for the only thing that his mother left behind. Finally he found it. “Your majesty, your highness,” he spoke in a weak tone. “my mother left behind this for you. She said that it’s the only way you can save the dragon warrior…” They saw a piece of note in the boy’s palm.

Hearing that, the Prince immediately snatched the crumpled piece of paper. It was written in rushed handwriting,

‘The Blood Sword can defeat the darkness. Use it to save the dragon warrior.’

“The Blood Sword? What is that?” he muttered as the note fell from his hands.

King Eli immediately grabbed the note before it hit the ground and read it. “The Blood Sword… C-come with me everyone.” His tone was full of uncertainty.

Everybody followed the King out of the room. Silently, they reached to what seemed like a solid brick wall. After pulling down a hidden lever, the wall gave way and revealed a staircase.

“Appa…” And as if the King knew what his son was going to ask, he answered.

“We’ve been in possession of the Blood Sword for a while now. The sword is very powerful and not everyone can use it, therefore it can be very dangerous if it falls in the hands of people who are not meant for it. To prevent any danger, the creator of this sword locked it with a special formula of the blood of a black dog. It is not commonly heard of nowadays as nobody could unlock it, so the news finally died down.”

By that time, they had already reached the bottom of the secret cellar where torches of fire now lined the walls. They saw a sword lying on a jade table. And to be honest, it wasn’t any eye-catching sword that stood out much. One could find loads of prettier ones in the marketplace.

The sheath (nobody can get the sword out, remember?) was entirely made of rough, lacklustre metal, with equally dull precious stones embedded in its body. Though, it was intricately carved.

Kibum stared at it in awe, determined to use it to save Kevin as it was the only way out. The King picked it up and tried to pull it out of the scabbard again, but it wouldn’t budge as it didn’t years back. He sighed and placed the sword back in its place.

Kibum lifted his hand to the table and reached towards it. But as if hesitating, his fingers curled back in towards his palm again. Finally, the pads of his fingers came into contact with the rough surface of the scabbard.

Feeling a slight shock of electricity shoot through his skin, he retracted his hand immediately. He ran his fingers over it again before he felt the shock but still continued to pick the heavy thing up. It started to heat up in his hands and it shook and glowed. Gasps could be heard all around him.

Finally, glowing faded off and it turned back to normal. Kibum cautiously wrapped his fingers around the handle of the sword and attempted to pull it out.

The empty scabbard dropped to the ground with a clang.

-

It was night time and Kibum was in his dark bedroom sitting by the edge of his bed. He had wanted to go save Kevin immediately but King Eli forbade him to go without rest and a plan. Besides, he didn’t even know where the darkness had brought the boy.

He turned to glance at the sword that he had thrown onto the middle of the bed lazily just now. The blade was shiny and sharp, very intricately designed, unlike the scabbard.

Suddenly, he felt someone behind him. Hearing light footsteps towards where he was, he swiftly turned around to find his intruder. It didn’t take long for his eyes to catch the figure who was fairly close to him in front of an opened window. The window was swung open and he felt the cold night breeze sweep against his skin, causing goosebumps to rise.

His breath hitched as he breathed the words.

“Kevin…?”

Hearing no response of sorts, he slowly got of the bed and walked towards the boy, unsure of whether this was real.
“Kevin is it really you?” He lightly placed his hands on Kevin’s shoulders.

The beautiful facial features, familiar scent and the same soft blonde hair just screamed “KEVIN WOO!!!” but something was missing. Something – he couldn’t pinpoint what though.

He looked into Kevin’s eyes and felt an empty feeling. It was as if the warm feeling that he felt whenever he looked into his eyes evaporated into thin air. Instead, he found himself staring into soulless, glassy eyes.

He slowly backed off, removing his hands from the other’s shoulders.

“Y-you’re not… Kevin…”

The other boy still did not move or say anything and continued staring at him with that cold, nonchalant, piercing look.

“Who are you?” Kibum asked harshly and with a firm tone. Still, no reply.

“Master wants you to meet him tomorrow, at the cave a few miles away from here. Alone.” He put strong emphasis on the last word, voice sounding overly-automated.

‘master…?’ then it struck the prince. ‘the darkness! What did it do to Kevin?! He wants me to go there. Alone… I will save Kevin no matter what!’ he thought, but did not say it out loud.

Before the other presence in the room turned to leave, he caught a glimpse of the sword lying in the middle of the bed. He glared at it – it held a threat towards his master. Looking as Kibum was deep in thought, he took the chance to reach out for the sword. However, before he could touch it, his fingers hit and invisible shield that protected the sword from him.

Black dogs’ blood. It had to be. It was known to have harmful and protective effects against evil spirits. He felt a sudden purge in his chest and coughed out a whole mouthful of blood all of a sudden.

That seemed to have pulled Kibum out of his trance andhe stared at him as he grappled onto his hurting chest and backed off towards the open window that he had come in through, blood making its way down his neck.

Before Kibum knew it, the figure had disappeared into the night, leaving absolutely no trace at all of his visit.

Kibum had questions, and he had to clarify them with KyuJong as soon as possible to set out.

-------------------------------------------------TBC-----------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: As you guys may know, this story is finishing in one more chapter. So may i please request that all my readers and subscribers comment? (: Silent readers, it's gonna end anyway...? D; /cries/ Have been getting lesser and lesser comments recently. But THANK YOU to those few of my readers who have been loyally commenting! <3 I love each and every one of you~ :D And i'll miss you guys~

Last chapter will be up as soon as possible before i start on my YunJae (Yunho and Jaejoong of TVXQ) fics~ :')