3 WEEKS AGO

Donghae fell on his knees, his hand pressing on his stomach as he coughed out deep red blood. He panted hard as he looked up, staring at the king who was struggling to breathe, after the last blow he’d given him. He had to do it now. It would take only 10 minutes for the king to fully heal himself. It was now or never.

Gathering every last bit of his strength, he got up on his trembling feet and staggered towards the king, who was growling fiercely at him. The king was slowly revealing its true form, a terrifying black-winged creature with fiery red eyes, the horns that could crush anything that comes in the way, and the sharp long claws that could pierce through everything.

Donghae stopped when they were close enough, and stepped on the king’s head, earning a loud painful scream from him. He stepped harder and pointed his palm at the king, and then the ground around them began to shake.

“You…you’re planning to kill me?” The king laughed hysterically, pitch black blood spurting out of his mouth as he spoke. “You can never get rid of me, you filthy lord of a devil. Even if you kill me, my powers will still live inside you. And when the darkness of my power consumes you, you will lose yourself. You’re going to become a blood-thirsty creature just like me!”

“Shut up,” Donghae muttered. As the ground continued to shake, a faint red smoke circled around him, before slowly moving towards the king and went through his skin.

“ARGH!” The king screamed out loud, his voice echoed throughout the empty barren land.

His body trembled hard at first, and it suddenly froze, as if it had just been electrocuted. Slowly, the red smoke engulfed him and his body began to crumble, like a rotten piece of wood. His wailing could still be heard even when he was about to disappear, and Donghae had to back away when the king unleashed the last bit of his power, resulting in a huge explosion.

“!” Donghae winced, realizing that the explosion was releasing a poisonous gas. What a terrifying king, he thought.

He managed to teleport himself elsewhere, though he ended up falling into a huge pile of wooden bricks before he could stop himself.

“Screw this,” he cursed as he struggled to get himself up.

He needed at least a few more minutes until he can heal himself, so for now, he had to endure the aching pain all over his body. He’d finally defeated the mighty king of the darkness. He had nothing to worry about anymore. Or at least he hoped. But the moment he looked up and took a look at his surroundings, Donghae’s eyes went wide, sweat dripping down his forehead.

He wasn’t in Eosforos. He was in the living world.

“What the hell…” he jumped from the top of the building he fell on, and landed smoothly on the ground. There was no one around, but he could hear faint voices from the distance.

How the hell did he end up here? 

“Kris,” he called out. “Kris, can you hear me?”

“Lord Donghae?”

Donghae let out a relieved sigh upon hearing Kris’s voice, even though it was a bit unclear and blurry. “Where are you?”

“I’ve been searching for you! Where’ve you been! What happened?”

“I don’t know,” Donghae threw a glance around him cautiously. “I don’t even ing know what’s happening.”

“Did…did you win?”

“You could say that.”

“For real?!”

“Listen, Kris, I need your help.”

“At your service, my lord.”

“I need you to find Kyuhyun and tell him to hold the ritual to summon me back.”

“What? What do you mean holding the ritual? Is this some kind of a joke?”

“Just do it,” Donghae looked down at his arm, and frowned when he noticed the triquetra symbol had disappeared completely. “Now. And don’t ever tell Hyukjae about this. You hear me?”

“Yes, my lord.”

When he was sure Kris was finally gone, Donghae leaned back against the wall behind him and took another look at his arm. True enough, the symbol was nowhere to be found. In other words, his powers had been sealed once again. It shouldn’t have, because a devil lord would need to hold a sacred ritual to seal his powers.

“You can never get rid of me, you filthy lord of a devil. Even if you kill me, my powers will still live inside you. And when the darkness of my power consumes you, you will lose yourself. You’re going to become a blood-thirsty creature just like me!”

The king’s last words suddenly rang in his ears, and Donghae suddenly felt cold chill running down his spine. He glanced at the puddle right next to where he was standing, and then he saw it. His fierce, shining red eyes that gleamed bright even in the dark.

_________________

PRESENT DAY

“I don’t understand this at all,” Donghae took off his sunglasses as they walked into the departure hall, pushing their way through the crowd. “Why do we have to go on a trip with Kyuhyun and Sungmin? This is supposed to be our private vacation. You know private? P-R-I-V-A-T-E?”

“Come on Donghae,” Hyukjae laughed. “It’s gonna be fun with the four of us.”

“No it’s not.”

“This is all of it?” Kris then came, pushing along the trolley with their bags on it.

The latter insisted to send them to the airport, and Donghae was more than happy to have someone doing all the work while he kept on complaining about the plan to meet up with Kyuhyun and Sungmin who had already arrived in Hawaii a few hours ago.

“Thanks Kris,” Hyukjae beamed, taking the trolley from the latter. “I’m sorry to trouble you.”

“No, it’s fine. I won’t be around when you get back so I figured I’d see you guys off for the last time.”

“Don’t make it sound like we’re going to die,” Donghae grimaced. “You can just fly over to Hawaii in less than 10 minutes.”

“Well, I wouldn’t want to ruin your ‘private’ vacation,” Kris grinned.

“Tell that to Kyuhyun.”

“We still have an hour before the gate opens,” Hyukjae said, glancing at his watch. “Should we get some snacks? I’m kind of starving.”

“Wait here,” Donghae said. “I’ll go get something.”