"It might be possible."

Kyuhyun disregarded the eldest of the group as he packed up his bag. It seemed to have less stuff than usual. He wondered why. He also wondered why Leeteuk was so persistent in convincing him to sway his mind.

"To move the Omniscience to here, I mean."

He sighed and looked up at Leeteuk exasperatedly as he healed the ground where the fire had been crackling away last night. Green tendrils sprouted from the charred earth, hiding any evidence that it had once been burnt. 

"I'm sorry Leeteuk-shii, but it's not," Kyuhyun shook his head sadly. "We have to go to it, not it come to us."

"I'm not going to march my group straight into North Korea, and before you ask, I am the oldest. I take full responsibility for anything and everything that happens to any of you," Leeteuk stated sternly. "You can't expect us to go in and come back out alive, can you?"

"I don't know what to expect, but I know one thing," Kyuhyun shouldered his bag. "We die, or we die trying, I'm sticking to the latter."

"What? You're going to lead us to our deaths?" Leeteuk reprimanded with narrow eyes. "How heartless are you?"

"You don't get it do you?" Kyuhyun glared back at the elder. "Even if we tried, the Omniscience would never come to us."

"You haven't tried!"

"I don't need to."

Leeteuk looked dumbfounded and without a comeback. He didn't know, did he? God, why did these people have to be so uneducated about the war? Did they learn anything?

"The Omniscience wouldn't move, even if we tried beckoning it," Kyuhyun explained patiently, although his eyes glowed blood red. "Didn't you hear? The North had to literally build their lab around it. If they couldn't move it, what makes you think that we could by just means of telepathy?! It's entirely impossible!”

The Life element frowned, and then turned, walking away from him with an obvious bitterness. His body cast a black silhouette against the deep colours of the sunrise, moving into the distance as he just stared.

He didn't speak to Leeteuk for the rest of the day.

---

They had planned their route to the border separating the two countries the previous night, and were now trekking through the abandoned cities and slowly edging towards the Mapo district, which they had decided was the easiest point of entry and escape (if they needed it). Jongwoon had told them "the more land we cover in a day, the less we have to travel the next, and the closer get to ending this". It was enough of a motivational speech to keep them moving. 

Kyuhyun wasn't really an optimist, that was more Jongwoon's job, but then again, Jongwoon was just as much of a pessimist as he was. Which didn't really help. Leeteuk, he knew was an optimist, especially by the way that the latter had perseveringly tried and convincing him and to change their choice of paths. He didn't really know why Leeteuk didn't give up while he was ahead. Seemed like the most plausible decision. 

"Cho Kyuhyun, Son of the Underworld."

Said male glared at the person who had tried to approach him, reaching an arm back to grasp at the handle of his scythe. Oh how he loved that scythe. Its sleek, silver, curved blade with both edges sharpened. Its smooth design and the majestic etching within the steel. The metal was covered in layers of dried up blood. Even though he loved it, he couldn't be bothered to clean it, and besides, a little blood didn't hurt anyone. His palm gripped at the wooden staff.

"Yes?" He turned around with a polite smile, had still behind his back. It wasn't the first person he'd been expecting. "... What do you want?"

"Harsh."

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't think you'd come here to see... Me. Well, not by choice..." Kyuhyun sighed as he removed his hand from his weapon. "You were one of the last I'd expect to come see me."

"Really?" None other than Lee Hyukjae frowned.

"Mm," Kyuhyun shrugged admittedly. "No, I was thinking more along the lines of Sungmin. Or Heechul, whichever hates me more."

"Right," the blonde-head said slowly as he fell into step with Kyuhyun. "Anyway, I need to talk to you about something."

"Why and what on earth could you possibly have to talk to me about? I've only been living here for sixteen years."

"You make it sound like that's a long time."

"When you've been alive for over four hundred years it is."

The look on Eunhyuk's face showed he clearly didn't believe that. He didn't try convince him, he had given up ages ago. No one trusted him, that fact didn't even surprised. Sometimes, even he didn't trust himself. Kyuhyun shrugged and asked him to continue.

"Um, well, I just wanted to know if you knew what this is," Eunhyuk questioned unsurely, pulling his hoody sleeve up. "It appeared a few days ago, just when everyone came together. I don't know what it is and when I showed Ryeowook he said you might know..."

Kyuhyun peered at the mark before reaching a hand out to hesitantly hover above Eunhyuk's arm as they trailed behind.

"May I?"

"Um... Sure." Eunhyuk replied awkwardly.

The Death element took a hold of the skinny limb. He observed that the mark was about the size of a large coin and grey, almost like a waterlogged black. Like when you get permanent marker on yourself and after a while it starts to fade. It represented a lightning bolt with curved sides, and a small dot under the jag. He pulled back and rushed forwards, urging Eunhyuk to do the same.

"So do you know what it is?" Eunhyuk asked curiously. "At all?"

"I've seen the symbol before," Kyuhyun furrowed his brow in concentration. "I just can't quite remember where..."

"Oh."

"I definitely know what it is though," Kyuhyun glared at the mark on the Electricity element's arm. "It might take me a night or so, but I'll be able to tell you what it is sooner or later, as soon as I actually remember..."

"If it helps, it used to be the size of a watermelon seed," Eunhyuk added as an afterthought. "I couldn't see what the symbol actually was then, but now it's grown, I can."

"Grown?"

"Yeah, it took up this much space yesterday," Eunhyuk explained holding his arm up and measuring the space with his fingers. His fingers shaved the smallest bit off the mark. "And now it's this big."

"Strange," Kyuhyun noted with a nod. "That is a very distinct feature, it will be easier to remember that way."

"Thanks, I'd really appreciate it," Eunhyuk laughed nervously. "It's starting to really freak me out..."

Kyuhyun noticed that the mark darkened slightly when he said that.

---

Hey guys! Got another update for you all~

Now what the is going on with AFF’s chapter layout? I am so confused and it’s really annoying. Everything is constantly changing. Anyone else noticed that or is that just me???

I liked the old version better…

Enough of my ranting, I hope you enjoyed~

Love you all!