[Ren’s PoV]

“Minki-ah,” whispered a gentle voice as a calloused hand lightly shook me, as another brushed the bangs off my forehead gently, “Minki-ah, get up.”

“I’m up,” I groaned tiredly.

“I’ve found the location of the books' temple. I’ve found the tear’s location as well,” whispered Jonghyun, “We need to move though. Now! There is not much time left before the light is consumed by the dark, we must hurry…”

I shot up in my bed, peering at Jonghyun’s face in shock, not caring for how close our faces were nor the fact our lips were mere centimeters apart.

He nodded, a weak smile gracing his lips, “Aye, so get up, we need to go. I know we haven’t finished your training but you know how to possess all four elements if needed, so, I’m sure when the time comes to use them you’ll know what to do…your body will know what to do.”

I hummed, jumping to my feet and quickly packing up as he moved to wake up the twins, Baekho, and Miyoung, who had the same eager reaction I did.

In a matter of thirty minutes, we were descending the tower one final time - or so it felt it would be our last time. Just outside the tower, at it's base, we stopped to wait for Jonghyun as he locked all the doors and sealed off his father’s office once more, slipping the emerald charm that my mother had given me around his neck for "protection", or so he claimed, but I knew for a fact that he wanted to possess it so that he could keep his father’s precious office safe from intruders as well as all the secrets it held.

He soon joined us and we all looked at him, a little anxious as he handed us all heavier cloaks than the ones we had on. Each was a different color, his was black while mine was white, Baekho’s was green while Miyoung’s was yellow, Youngmin’s red and Kwangmin’s blue.

“What are these?” questioned Youngmin, curiously as he slipped on the heavy cloak, already feeling warmer than he had before.

“They are charmed cloaks. They were charmed by my ancestors and have been used since this cycle first started,” stated Jonghyun, slipping the white cloak over the black cloak that had been given to me on my fifteenth birthday, “They will not only keep you warm, but they are magic resistant. Which means that I won't have to worry about you all too much.”

I peered at him, “Why do we need them?”

“We’re heading to the heart of the void,” stated Jonghyun, “The tear is located in the book’s temple main temple...their original temple where they shouldn't have been moved from..." He paused, "There will be some unexplainable creatures there, lying in wait for us, protetching the void, although I have no clue as to who controls them I know for a fact they are not under the control or order of my uncle, but rather someone far stronger…far more important than him…so, these cloaks are a precaution.”

We all nodded in understanding, “Aye, Jonghyun.”

“Anyway, let’s go, we’ve got no time to waste,” stated the mage, leading us out of the tower and into the blizzard raging outside. As we started to descend the hill, in the direction opposite of which we came, Jonghyun paused and cast one last longing glance towards the tower.

“You alright?” I questioned in worry.

He nodded and whispered, “Yeah, I’ve just got an odd feeling that I won’t be seeing this place again…for a long time.”

I looked at him in worry, opening my mouth to question him again, but he quickly grabbed my wrist and pulled me along, moving fast enough that we would make good progress through this day, but slow enough that I would not stumble under the force of the wind that lashed at us, as if it was enraged at us for trying to end this – for trying to return peace to these lands.

Hours passed, the visibility had dropped immensely from before. We had thought that it was bad before, but now it was indescribably horrible. The temperature had dropped from below freezing to sub-zero temperatures, however, through the chain we made to be sure we stuck together with how bad the visibility was, Jonghyun and I were able to keep the other’s warm - well, our powers were only used to make the rest of them feel comfortable since the new cloaks did most of our work. With our powers and the new cloaks we were able to keep them from dying on us due to the freezing temperatures.

“How much longer?” questioned Mi Young, screaming on the top of her lungs to be heard over the loud roar of the wind and rumble of the trembling earth – something that had started about two hours ago, after three hours of travel.

“It can’t be too much longer,” muttered Jonghyun, he had also screamed but his raspy voice was still hardly audible, “The tremors are from the two realms colliding, they are from where the dark realm is farther consuming the light and the light realm is slowly collapsing…so we can’t be too far from the tear now! We can’t be too far from the castle now.”

The others nodded, somehow managing to hear him as he continued to lead us through the harsh snow and vicious hail.

As Jonghyun had said, minutes later the capital city had come into view along with man moving beings. Upon seeing the creatures – or humans – or so they looked like they were humans from the distance, we all stopped in our steps, moving to crowd around Jonghyun, crowd around each other so we could hear each other over the storm.

“Could what we are seeing actually be people?” questioned Youngmin in wonder.

“No human can survive this type of weather,” replied JR, “Well, at least no average human is capable of doing so.”

“Do you think they are mages?” questioned Mi Young.

“That’s not possible,” I replied, “JR and I are the only mages left, other than JR’s uncle.”

JR, as if to back me up hummed and nodded, “They aren’t normal human beings…I don’t even think they are human, at least not anymore.”

“Then what do you think they are?” questioned Kwangmin.

“I don’t know to be honest, but I know that they are not human,” stated Jonghyun.

“So, be very cautious?” questioned Baekho.

JR nodded, humming again as he advanced forward slowly and quietly, the rest of us deciding to stay right on his heel, just in case something did happen and he was suddenly attacked and needed any back up. The five of us paced forward confidently, confident in our newly honed skills – the only one who looked as though they were not confident in their skills was Jonghyun, who had trained the most out of all of us.  

As we neared the town, Jonghyun motioned for us to follow him into one of the alleyways. As soon as we got there, he placed his arm over my chest and pushed me flat against the wall – doing so himself and causing the other four to do so – following his lead.

I held my breath as he continued to hold me close, following his gaze out onto the street laid before us, watching as the human-half crystal being passed by us, gimping it’s way to the end of the street before returning.

“I say we stick to the alleys,” stated Jonghyun, “I don’t know how to take these things down, nor do I know how many there are around here…”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” stated Youngmin, earning hum of agreement from his brother, followed by a confirmation from both Miyoung and Baekho. They all then turned their attention to me, knowing that if I declined the idea they could not go along with it because apparently my words were final since I was the royal prince.

“Let’s stick to the alleyways, as you said, we don’t know what those things are or the powers they possess, as well as we don’t know how many there are and if we attack one if anymore will come to its aid.” I stated, and Jonghyun smiled at me, patting my shoulder and leading the others forward.

As he pulled me with him, he whispered, “Try to be as quiet as possible…we don’t know if there are any of those things hanging around.”

The others nodded in understanding and I hummed as we advanced forward through the intricate maze of alley systems. We all soon paused as we came to another main road. Jonghyun held his hand up for us to stay in the alley and wait for him, he motioned for us to stay out of sight as he moved to the corner, peeking his head out and looking in both directions before looking up – looking at something we could not see due to the building we were currently pressed against.

He soon rejoined us and lead us back to the last fork in the alleys we had come to, taking us in a direction we didn’t remember seeing.

“We’re heading the wrong way, the castle is this way…plus, I’m trying to keep us in the alleys for as long as I possibly can because it won’t be too good if we encounter one of those creatures we saw before…there are tens along the main roads – probably hundreds along all the main roads.”

I nodded in understanding after he whispered into my ears, not bothering to inform the other four of what he had seen and said, knowing that they were too lost in their own worlds right now as we moved through the alleyways, taking the peace while we had it for a short while.

Another hour or so passed before we made it to another main road, this time, the five of us could see the castle in its entire glory sitting atop a small hill, overlooking the town below. It would’ve been a beautiful sight, had it not been enveloped in a mixture of white and black crystals – and crawling with what seemed to be larger forms of the enemies that lined the roads.

A sense of sorrow filled me as I peered at the building, a frown marred my face as I peered at it – remembering all the previous times I had seen them through the countless different memories of my ancestors. I stood in silence, tears glistening in my eyes as I peered at the building that had once belonged to my family, that had once been filled with servants and workers that loved their lives, seemingly loved my family.

“Minki, are you alright?” questioned Jonghyun, who had spun around on his heel upon finishing his survey of the road that lay before us.

“I don’t know why, but an odd sadness had enveloped me…” I whispered.

“It’s the effect of the tear,” whispered JR, “While the light realm is the place we roam for the time we live, the dark realm is the land we roam after death – after our adventures in the light realm come to their end.”

“So, what I’m feeling are the sorrows of the spirits that have returned to the light realm?” I pondered.

He nodded, “Yes, they’ve returned to the realm of light – well, it is no longer the realm of light, seeing as how they are here….The sorrows you feel are the regrets they have from when they once lived in the light realm, the sorrows they left behind when they passed along into the next realm…the sorrow is their understanding that the light realm is being devoured and the world being brought to its end…the sorrows you feel are both those dead spirits and the living willowing in their final hours of light…their final hours of life…”

I looked at him as he cupped my chin and wiped away the tears that – unbeknownst to me – had begun to fall.

“Don’t worry though, their sorrows will vanish soon and they will return to where they rightfully belong,” stated JR, smiling at me, “I promise you that.”

I nodded and whispered, “Don’t worry for the moment, and let’s continue on.”

He nodded and stated, “From what it looks like, this place is heavily guarded by whatever those creatures are, so we’re going to have to find an alternate route into the castle…”

A sudden image flashed in my head and I looked at him, “There is a tunnel we can use.”

I poked my head around the corner of the building and pointed at the beautiful clock tower just a little ways down the street, “There is a tunnel that connects to that tower over there…it is a part of the vast escape system we had for if the castle was attacked…I know of it since I once saw of it in a dream – which turned out to be one of my relative’s memories.”

Jonghyun hummed in understanding, “Then let’s change course right away and go there, are you sure no one knew of it?”

I nodded, “Positive, after all they haven’t been used in ages.”

Jonghyun nodded again and with that, we turned around and moved through the maze again, hoping to come out closer to the tower, hoping to not have to cut through any of the main roads, which we knew was practically impossible because the clock tower sat in the main square, it sat along the parade route – whenever there was some big celebratory event or festival.

As we once again came to an opening of the alleyways, we both paused, seeing that we were just across from the clock tower, but there were three large crystal creatures standing in our way – patrolling the road that laid between us and the tower.

“Should we make a run for it?” I questioned, peering at Jonghyun, at the others.

“No,” stated Jonghyun, suddenly taking off his rucksack and handing it to me, “We will not make a run for it, nor will we find another route – there isn’t much time left…”

As if to prove the seriousness of his words, the world beneath us shook, nearly throwing us all off our feet at how powerful they had become – due to how close we had come to the castle, to the tear.

After recovering from the tremors, Jonghyun set his hands on my shoulders and whispered, “Listen to me well Minki, I’m going to go out there and distract them – pull them and all those around in another direction, far away from you all, alright? Once the coast is clear take the books and this amulet and get into the castle. Once you are in the castle, find where you need to go and put the backs where they belong…wait for me at the tear, alright?”

I nodded hesitantly and whispered, “What if you don’t come back to us?”

He smiled confidently at me, “You know that’s never going to happen. I will always be here…with you.”

I smiled faintly in return.

“However, just in case…” whispered Jonghyun, leaning in closer to me, making me notice just how close we were. I felt my face heating up as I heard the other four whispering behind me, telling each other to turn their backs to us – to give us our privacy. Jonghyun chuckled as well, hearing their words before moving forward even a couple of centimeters more, pressing his lips against my own. I closed my eyes at the contact, gently grasping ahold of his black cloak as he rested his hands on my hips.

Seconds that felt like a life time passed and he pulled away from me, his one hand trailing up my side and neck to rest on my cheek.

 Slowly, opening my eyes again, mine were met by his onyx orbs as he smiled at me, “I love you Minki-ah. I know that this is neither the time nor the place to say it, but I feel as though it is appropriate for me to say it now for we don’t know how well this will work out.”

I nodded in understanding, opening my mouth to reply to him, however, I was cut off by the rubble of another tremor before actually feeling it full force – despite it being such a short time since the previous one, it was far stronger.

Jonghyun withdrew completely from me and whispered, “There is no need for you to reply at this point in time, for it will give me something to look forward to…”

I looked at him in wonder, in worry as he backed away from me – leaving the safe areas of the alley and stepping out into the open, into the view of the countless different monsters that let our paralyzing roars that echoed through the silent air over the city, despite the harsh wind. I watched in worry, in fear as his darkly dressed figured disappeared into the fog that had begun to settle over the lifeless city.

Hesitantly, I kicked into action upon seeing the last of the monsters near us kick it into high gear – chasing after Jonghyun, “Come on you guys, let’s get moving.”

The others hummed and bolted across the road beside me, all of us pushing our way into the clock tower and down a couple flights of rusting stairs, coming to the basement of the tower to find a wooden hatch – the opening to the cave system that ran under the city – that hooked many of the buildings to each other and the castle.

With a deep breath, I pulled the rotting hatch open and descended into the dark depths of the tunnel, creating a ball of fire in my hand, illuminating the ancient tunnels that despite being just as cold as it was outside – were preferable due to the lack of the harsh, nipping winds and the blinding snow/hail and fog.

I turned to look at the four as the hatch slammed closed, peering at them silently before stating, “This is it, you guys, this is the beginning of the end…whether it be the end of the world or the end of the cycles…this is it.” The others nodded, looking at me in determination as I stated, “We will bring this to an end, once and for all and live to tell the tale.”

The other four nodded again, smiling at me widely as we set forward in the direction of the castle, determination shining in our eyes as we did so.

So, yeah...

I'm not entirely too sure what went on in my mind when I wrote this, but hopefully you all enjoyed it. 

Hopefully you all will enjoy where this story goes at it's end (which is only a few chapters away - the exact amount is still up in the air since I haven't completely finished it just yet, but it's coming soon). 

Forgive me for any mistakes that are made within this chapter, I edited it a couple of times but seeing as how I'm human a couple of mistakes probably slipped through. 

However, I hope you enjoy it either way.