[Minki’s PoV]

I can’t tell you exactly how long we stumbled through the caves, but I can tell you it could not have been any more than half an hour before we ascended the stairs and entered the castle’s servant quarters. We all were shocked to see the walls and floors enveloped by a relatively thick layer of crystals that would light up with each tremor that course through the castle grounds from the secret it hid below the city.

“We’re in?” muttered Youngmin.

“We’re in,” I responded, “This is where I should’ve been living these past years…where you two should’ve been living.”

They looked around the servant quarters before Kwangmin spoke up, “I’d rather live in the other city.”

“I’d rather have kept the poor life we had back there than live in this…wasteland,” muttered Youngmin, agreeing with his twin, who he held close with one arm.

“I’d rather live there as well,” I responded, “I’d take it any day over this place in its current state.”

Miyoung yelped as a powerful tremor rocked us, it was the strongest it had ever been, the crystal above Miyoung had fallen, collapsing over her head and although she moved out of the way, she was hit by some of the debris, leading to her landing on her and holding her ankle, her expression scrunched up in pain.

“Mi Young!” called Baekho out of concern, kneeling at her side in concern as she attempted to stop the bleeding.

I moved to stand beside the two, kneeling down quickly and setting my hand gently against the open skin, focusing my powers as Jonghyun had taught me and quickly healed her small wound - including the slight bit of damage done to her muscle. Once the wound was taken care of, I looked at the four others who stood around me.

“We need to get going, we need to hurry…with how close we are, I can’t tell if the power is from distance or from the darkness’s reign growing.”  

They nodded in agreement as another tremor appeared not seconds later, spurring us all into motion as we all ran up the stairs into the main hall of the castle. As soon as the heavy wooden door opened under my touch, we all froze, peering at the scene that was frozen in time before us.

“Wh-what is this?” muttered Youngmin, stepping forward, in an attempt to lure any enemies in the area to attack him rather than me.

“This is what it was like here in the palace when the tear finally released the void into the realm of light,” I muttered, not really knowing how I knew as I moved forward as well, not sensing any dark presences around us – despite the shadows that surrounded us due to our close proximity to the void, “They were celebrating something, the servants…these people…”

“I wonder what they were celebrating,” muttered Miyoung in wonder, her sentence trailing off as she peered over the people frozen in time – suspended in time.

“Probably the sacrifice of my father – of Jonghyun’s family,” I replied, earning a smile from the others, who thought about it and saw the probability of the words being true, of the reason for celebrating being likely.

“Probably a celebration of the peace they believed would come,” stated Youngmin, earning an nod from his brother, who moved away from him to examine each person individually, to examine the crowd that had gathered in some places to talk.

“They were probably unaware of this happening to them,” muttered Kwangmin, noting some of the happy expressions on the party goers.

“Is it possible that they are still alive?” muttered Mi Young in wonder, “Is it possible that time just…just stopped for them? Is it possible that they didn’t die in their crystal shells?”

“I guess it is,” I muttered, “But if that is the case, surely they remember something – know something about what has happened in recent years.”

The others nodded in understanding, humming.

Kwangmin froze upon seeing a familiar face, “This is preposterous.”

Youngmin looked at his brother in wonder, moving towards his brother before freezing, “It can’t be.”

“What is it?” questioned Baekho.

“Who is it?” questioned Mi Young.

“It’s our aunt,” muttered Kwangmin, “I thought she came with us when we escaped.”

“I thought she did too,” responded Youngmin, “I thought that she had come with us and had died with mother.”

“It could be an illusion of the darkness,” I muttered, breaking them from their shocked trances, “Remember, the shadow has prepared many things for us, trying to break our wills to continue on, our determination – trying to lure us into giving up on all of this once and for all.”

The nodded, looking down a bit sadly before peering at me and whispering, “Y-you’re right, Minki.”

With those words said, we moved through the main hall – the throne room – and moved to the little hidden door behind the thrones that lead to the dungeons. The door was hidden from those not blood related to the royal family, so to the other four it looked as though the door was just part of the wall – just a normal part of the wall.

“Are you sure this is the place?” muttered Kwangmin as we descended down the stairs into the darkened halls of the dungeons that were filled with dust and skeletons and like the main hall, bodies frozen in crystals, that were frozen in time.

“Positive,” I responded a gentle smile playing on my lips as I continued to advance forward, possessing Jonghyun’s amulet – the mysterious amulet that JR had given to me. I held its chain tightly in my hand as the amulet itself glew mysteriously, especially the farther we advanced into the dungeons.

“Is it trying to tell us we’re getting closer?” questioned Mi Young, gently poking the amulet, gasping as it lightly shocked her.

“It seems so,” I replied, stopping before the wall that marked the end of the dungeon, squinting my eyes as the amulet only grew lighter, brighter and lit the room – illuminating the whole wall that sat before us.

“What’s going on?” questioned Mi Young, grabbing a hold of Baekho’s shoulder tightly as the ground shook violently yet again, nearly knocking us off our feet.

“It’s reacting to the wall,” responded Baekho.

I nodded and stated, “This is it you guys, or so I believe it is. We’ll know once this wall opens up…if this is the place we believe it to be, once this is in the wall the door to the cave will open and the demons locked inside will be let loose for as long as it takes us to seal the tear…it marks the beginning of the end.”

The others all hummed, looking at me encouragingly, showing me that they were ready for what came our way – ready for whatever was waiting for us on the other side of the wall.

I stepped forward, automatically noticing the little niche to place the amulet in and upon setting it down into the hole with shaking hands, the amulet grew even brighter, blinding the five of us as the ground shook not only form the tremors of the two realms crashing into each other, but also because of the pathway to the tear being opened once and for all.

As the light faded, I warily opened my eyes, peering around, only to let my gaze fall and stay on the monster that stood before us.

“It’s a guardian of the void,” whispered Kwangmin “Isn’t it?”

“I fear that this is something far worse…” I watched as the crystal cast that encased the tall man slowly began to chip away, revealing his pale skin, his emotionless semblance.

I retreated a couple of steps as the man’s head finally became free of the crystal that had hungrily grasped a hold of him in the past. I watched as his eyes fluttered open and his head moved in a manner as if he was stretching the stiff muscles that had gone unused for far too long.

I watched as more and more of him became freed from the crystal, until only one of his legs remained stuck in the crystal. The man was waiting patiently, his blank eyes staying glued onto me and the bag that rested over my shoulder, his hand resting on the handle of his blade as the last bit of the crystal slowly cracked before shattering once and for all.

We all scrambled backwards, staring not at him in horror as he slowly advanced towards us, but rather than staring at him, we stared at the purple tear that sat in the middle of the room behind him – it was a crack that seemed to extend with each earthquake like tremor. The cracks however branched out from one central hole that seemed to emit a freezing, paralyzing breeze that seemed to slowly envelope everything in the room.

“Minki, watch out!” called Baekho, suddenly jumping in front of me, raising his sword to block the strike that had sent my way. Their swords clashed and shook me out of my thoughts.

The others soon took his movement as an example, jumping in front of me and forming a wall between me and the tall, ghostly man who was no simple enemy. I, out of fear of what was to happen, pulled out a sword of my own – it had been crafted by Jonghyun’s father for my dad, however, due to all that happened in the past the sword was never once placed in the hands of its proper owner until now. I stared at the sword that rested in my hand in awe, taking a short moment to admire the ebony blade – taking a moment to admire the craftsmanship.

With the sword out, I strode forward confidently, joining the other four before the creature, ready to attack at any sign of threat. However, despite my anticipation, the creature’s attention became locked onto both Baekho and Miyoung – its powerful attacks quickly wearing the duo out as they carried on blocking the motions with their own weapons.

“Youngmin, Kwangmin get to its sides; distract him while I go around to his back, alright?” I stated, the duo moved, careful not to attract its attention just yet as I moved quietly on the outside of the room, trying hard to move in the shadows and stay hidden within them.

I watched in worry as I crept by, my eyes stayed glued on the monster attacking Miyoung and Baekho. Silently, I watched as Miyoung’s previously injured leg gave out on her and Baekho dove in front of her, meeting the creature’s sword in midair, only for his sword to go flying out of his hands at impact.

“Hey, look over here!” I called, not knowing exactly where the courage came from, silently praying that Jonghyun would hurry and join us here in the castle. Though I was trying hard to stay focused on the fight playing out before me, I couldn’t help but worry about the jerk who had suddenly left us to grant us supposed ‘safe access’ into the castle, to the tear.

The creature’s gaze landed on me and knocked the twins away as the duo jumped towards him, it let out a frustrated roar, raising its weapon before violently swinging it back down. I brought my own sword up and the impact vibrated through my body, through every single bone informing me of just how weak I truly was. As I tried to strike the creature myself, I found myself blocked with a crystal sword – watching as the sparks flew as the two blades met yet again. The creature’s attacks rained down on me, not giving me a chance to think as my body moved on its own as my mind imagined this as another practice with Jonghyun since this creature performed movements almost identical to those that Jonghyun used against me.

I was brought out of my thoughts by our swords clashing yet again, as my wrists ached from the pressure put on them as I held the weapon over my head.

“Minki!” called Youngmin, charging from the side, running towards the creature with his weapon raised above his head. Just as his sword nearly hit the creature’s side, a large gust of wind sent the male flying into the wall. The creature’s attention returned back to Youngmin and concern grew within me as I panted from previous exertion.

I tried to catch Kwangmin’s attention, to try to get him to halt his attack, but he was blinded to my movements – my signals. He charged forward, much like how his brother had, unlike his brother – he actually made contact with the creature’s side.

The human-like creature howled in pain and spun on its heel, smacking Kwangmin in the stomach with the handle of his sword, sending the male flying through the air much like his brother had seconds before. I watched in worry, peering at the injured Miyoung, the weaponless Baekho – whose weapon went missing, the breathless Youngmin, and the current target of the creature – Kwangmin. I took a deep breath.

“This is what you meant, huh, Jonghyun?” I muttered clenching my hand – ignoring the pain as my nails dug into my palm, leaving crescent moons in their wake as I extended my hand – willing the flames or wind, or something to come out.

Panic arose within me as I watched the creature hobble forward towards Kwangmin, closing the distance between the two surprisingly quickly. My brow creased with worry as nothing seemed to listen to me, as though no element wanted to listen…wanted to obey, wanted to help. My hand trembled as I placed it back with the other on the hilt of my sword, raising it and charging forward, praying that it would not see me out of the corner of its eye – praying that I could land a strike on it and draw its attention back away from the others.

As I brought my sword across my chest, cutting into the creature’s side, I closed my eyes tightly – anticipating the impact of the creatures weapon against my skin, anticipating the impact of it pushing me way, anticipating the wind gust that would shove me away. However, none of that came – only a second howl and the creature turning in the opposite direction. I was pulled away from the creature, and blinked at the person who had pulled me away.

“Youngmin?” I muttered, peering at the male who held his side, “H-How…?”

He nodded in the direction we were facing to the other side of the monster; I stared in shock at the male who stood before us, slight anger was arising within me as I thought about what could’ve taken him so long to get here.

“Took you long enough,” I growled and I saw Jonghyun smile slightly, obviously having heard me over the constant humming of metal hitting metal – scraping against it.

“I know my arrival was a little delayed,” muttered Jonghyun, “Forgive me.”

I rolled my eyes and moved forward, panting as I tried to pull the cold air into my burning lungs as I watched Jonghyun dance with the creature before me.  I felt a dizzy spell fall over me and I wondered just why it had suddenly hit – why I felt so weak, why the elements seemed to refuse to work for me.

“Minki,” muttered Kwangmin, joining his twin and I as we stood to the side, “You alright, you don’t look well.”

“I-I’m fine…it’s…there was a dizzy spell,” I muttered straightening myself up, only to lose balance as the ground shook violently under our feel, throwing us all off balance.

“W-Why?” muttered Youngmin.

I shrugged, not knowing why it had hit so suddenly until another fell over me, knocking me off my feet as it was accompanied by another bout of tremors came from the tear.  I saw little black dots dancing across my vision and felt as though I was falling when I heard the twins call my name. I weakly attempted to blink away the dots, but failed. They consumed my vision rapidly and I saw Jonghyun’s worried face from across the room. 

So...yep...

I don't really know what I'm writing anymore, but hopefully you all are still enjoying it even as it draws to it's close. ^^

The next chapter will be up soon.