After talking with Mi Young about what had happened while I was unconscious, I had fallen asleep – the weighed down feeling to all my muscles making it very easy to fall into a dreamless sleep. The following morning when I woke up, I happily enjoyed a small breakfast cooked by Mi Young, filled with laughter as Youngmin and Kwangmin cracked jokes about how awkward Baekho was – which I admit, he was very awkward around the duo for some reason. Every time he went to say why, one of the twins would cover his mouth and send him a death glare.

After the little dinner we went different ways, I found myself sitting on the edge of Jonghyun’s bed, playing with his bandaged fingers – which were severely burned according to Mi Young. The twins cleaned the dishes we had eaten on while Mi Young and Baekho went out to patrol the area and make sure we were not going to get some sudden, unexpected visitors - who were not just dropping by to say hello.  

As I sat beside Jonghyun, questions continuously kept popping up in my mind, some of the most frequent ones being: Should I tell JR about the visions I had? Should I question the mage about being the only descendant of his family? Should I tell JR that I strongly believe that he has a brother?

The worries continued to plaque my thoughts in the form of questions. Occasionally, my mind would create scenarios that played out in my head about me confronting JR about it – most of them ended up with JR denying it strongly and the two of us getting into a very serious argument over it, the argument was extremely childish as well. Although the subconscious fear being there, I knew that if I did chose to speak to JR about it, the older male would not be as childish as my subconscious was trying to make him out to be.

I was suddenly brought from my thoughts as a pain filled groan infiltrated my ear drums, my head shot up as my gaze moved from my heavy boots and the carpeted floor to Jonghyun’s sleeping face. I watched as his eyelids fluttered open. I stared at the discolored patches of skin around one of his onyx colored eyes. My gaze traced over the bruises littering the side of his face as well as the cut that sat just above his temple.

“Minki…”

His weak voice drew my attention away from the wounds littering his skin and back to his eyes, he frowned at something he saw in my gaze, but did not speak of it. JR did not speak at all. I gazed at him in worry, but still, he did not speak of the thing that made him frown.

“How long have you been up?” questioned JR, his voice hoarser than usual, his exhaustion practically dripped from his tone.

“I woke up yesterday.”

“How long have I been out?” quested Jonghyun, bringing a bandaged hand to his forehead and messaging his aching temple, flinching every now and then as his fingertips lightly traced over the scratch that lay just above it.

“From what Mi Young was telling me, about two days.”

“Hel me sit up,” muttered Jonghyun, beckoning for me to aid him.

I gently grabbed ahold of his shoulders, trying hard to ignore the fact he was shirtless. I tried hard to ignore the smooth abnormally heated skin that rested under my fingertips, tried to ignore the muscles that flexed under the skin as he tried to make himself sit up on his own. He was undoubtable well-built despite his relatively small-than-the-average-male frame. It made me a little bit self-conscious – sure I had muscles and all but nothing similar to his.

“Minki…”

My eyes drifted up from where I was staring intently at his partically bandaged torso, up to his neck, before raising up to his eyes that showed the immense pain he was in. I felt my cheeks heating up in embarrassment from the knowing look in his eyes. I prepared myself mentally for the teasing that I knew was coming my way.

I was shocked when he completely disregarded my stare and stated, “I found the Book of Air.”

“I know,” I whispered, mentally praising myself for not stuttering, “Mi Young informed me.”

“Speaking of Mi Young, where is she?”

“She and Baekho went out to patrol,” I muttered, pulling his hand away from the cut above his temple, knowing that he was aggravating it.

JR nodded in understanding, “Once they return bring them here.”

“Alright.”

“It’s about the Book of Air.”

“Alright,” I responded again, “I’ll bring them as soon as they return.”

“Bring the twins as well,” muttered JR, “After all, they are a part of this team too.”

“Alright,” I muttered, feeling rather repetitive, “I’ll be sure to do so Jonghyun.”

“I’m sure you will…” responded Jonghyun, not really knowing what else to say, shifting slightly against the pillow I had propped him against the head board with before flinching as pain surged up and down his spine as he pulled the bandages from his hands, shocking me as I peered at his previously blistered hands to see that they were completely unblemished. He looked up at me, his fingers messaging the palm of the opposite hand. He knew what I was going to ask, so he spoke up, “My body subconsciously heals itself; it always does…that is why I feel thirsty all the time. It’s using the water within me to heal itself.”

I peered at him in curiosity.

“It is the reason why you and I need more water in our systems than others,” stated JR, “Our bodies heal themselves quickly…well, yours will once your body knows how to bend water to your will…”

“When we find the Book of Water,” I muttered, staring in concern as he rested his head back against the wall, closing his eyes. His face was ghastly pale – a side effect of his continuous use of magic, “Do you want to sleep?”

“No,” muttered JR, “I need to talk to you in private before the others come.”

I looked down at my hands, knowing just what he wanted to speak about. I knew he wanted to speak about my jumping in front of him earlier, well, a week ago.

“Judging from your expression and reaction, you know what this is about,” responded JR, “So; I won’t waste my breath or energy, why did you do it?”

“I felt useless,” I whispered, playing with my own fingers, “I did not like seeing you laying there in pain – I didn’t like to think of you dying.”

“Even if you don’t like that thought, do not jump in front of me,” whispered JR in response, “Do not try to sacrifice yourself for me because if you die, it is all over – the darkness wins…the void wins. While, if I died, it’ll just be another life lost.”

“So, you want me to let you die?”

“Yes, if a situation arises like that again – let me die…do not try to play hero and save me alright?”

I frowned, opening my mouth to protest; only to be cut off by Mi Young’s voice reverberating through the house, “Ren, Kwangmin, and Youngmin – we’re back!”

JR looked at me, sending a ‘and that’s final’ look my way before calling out in a weak voice, “Mi Young, come here!”

Despite the inaudibility of his words, Mi Young came running, “Jonghyun!”  JR smiled and I felt jealousy bubble up within me as Mi Young enveloped JR in a tight hug, “How long have you been up?”

She quickly pulled away from JR to look into his eyes.

“Not too long,” I responded for JR, who was trying hard not to show just how much the tight hug had hurt all his still healing wounds.

“Why did you call?”

“It’s about the Book of Air, call the twins and Baekho,” whispered Jonghyun, “or just go tell them that we are going to fetch it tomorrow – that we’ll be migrating again tomorrow.”

“Your wounds are very serious though,” muttered Mi Young.

He rose his hand, smiling, “I’ll be fine by then…just keep me hydrated through the night.”

“A-Alright,” stuttered Mi Young, shocked to see that his hands completely healed, “I’ll go inform the others, you rest.”

“Okay,” muttered Jonghyun, “We’ll go over the plan tomorrow, when I am ready.”

“Alright.”

“Right now, I’m going to sleep,” whispered Jonghyun, Miyoung nodded and exited the room silently.

Jonghyun looked at me, “Help me lay down again.”

I nodded and aided him with laying down on the plush surface of the abandoned bet again.

The following morning, I was awoken by a still ghastly pale but very much conscious and woundless Jonghyun. He peered at me silently whispering, “Pack up, we are moving as soon as we get a hold of the book.”

“Alright,” I responded, sitting up groggily and peering around as I ran a hand through my hair, trying hard to tame the beast known as bead head, “So, where are we going?”

“The book is in a frozen mansion east of here,” informed JR, “I’ve never explored it before but it has an ominous atmosphere, so surely there is something awaiting us in there.”

“What is it though?”

“We’ll find out,” responded Jonghyun, smiling cheekily and causing me to shake my head in amusement.

“You seem better, but you don’t look it,” I retorted, “You are still so pale.”

“I feel better,” replied Jonghyun nonchalantly stating his next words, “I still feel like though, but I feel better than before.”

“The why are we going there?” I questioned in wonder, “Why are you making us grab it now and leave while you are still clearly recuperating?”

“We are going there because we need to,” responded Jonghyun, “We need to get the book because the longer it is there, the more likely it will be that the shadow will get to it before we do. Plus, the longer we’re here the more likely it’ll be that they will send a stronger enemy our way. They probably know the location of the Book of Air, so, they are probably watching us closely and growing more nervous the longer we are here. If they think that we’ve been here too long they’ll send an extremely strong force our way. Once we get the book, they’ll probably send two guardians our way out of fear, predicting they know that I possess half of the books, that I possess the Book of Fire.”

“So, either way, we’ll need to move – to travel?”

“Aye,” responded Jonghyun, “Either way we need to keep moving because there are eyes constantly watching us from within the darkness surrounding us.”

“Alright,” I retorted worriedly, shoving my belongings into my rucksack without too much care, “When do we leave?”

“As soon as the twins are ready,” stated Jonghyun, “Mi Young and Baekho are ready but the twins aren’t. You’re the last person I woke up and you got ready to go before those two, who were the first two I woke up.”

I chuckled, “That’s typical for the idiots to do.”

Jonghyun chuckled, “You’re so nice to your friends.”

“They’re more like brothers so…”

“It gives you the right to be mean to them?”

“Yep,” I muttered, “Pretty much.”  

He shook his head and stated, “Young master – your majesty, are you ready for our quest to resume after a short break after your serious injury on my part?”

“Aye,” I responded cheekily, knowing that he was playing around a bit, knowing that it was only going to be for a few more minutes since he is going to revert back to his very serious side – the side of my guardian and human shield if anything serious comes my way, “Are you ready though?”

He smiled meekly, nodding, “I’m ready for anything that comes our way, so don’t worry too much.”

I nodded in understanding and threw my cloak and bag over my shoulders, pulling the hood up to hide my face as I followed him into the entrance area of the house, laughing as I heard the twins trying to convince Jonghyun that they had gotten ready faster than I had. Mi Young and Baekho watched in amusement from where they stood by the door.

The fight ended quickly since it takes two sides to fight and only one side was being verbal and the other was silent and had grabbed my hand, dragging me out of the house and led me in the direction of the book – expecting for the others to follow us closely, which they did.

After about ten minutes, Jonghyun stopped in front of a large mansion that sat on the crest of a hill, from which it could watch over the small village below.  Large icicles hung from the edge of the rood, making the mansion look as if it was baring its teeth – silently threatening all living things to stay away, threatening to attack anyone who got too close to it.

“This is it?” I muttered my voice a mere whisper as I was unable to bring myself to speak any louder in the surrounding eerie silence.

“Aye,” muttered Jonghyun, “This is it.”  

Sorry for any mistakes made. *bowes* Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!