[Jonghyun’s PoV]

I closed my eyes tightly as I felt nauseous, my stomach churning as the ground swallowed me whole and I was pulled into the deep depths of the dark realm – officially passing through the tear between realms. I groaned in pain as I slammed down onto the ground, landing on my side rather than on my feet.

As soon as I opened my eyes, I became all too aware of the absence of Minki’s hand in my own, panicked, I looked around.

“Minki!” I called, pushing myself up into a sitting position and casting my gaze around my surroundings, “Minki! Ren!?”

I felt panic settling in and I cursed Darkus in my head – Minki was alone and defenseless because of that supposed overseer of the light realm. How was Minki supposed to help me in this situation if he was nowhere near me?

“Jonghyun,” stated a familiar voice that calmed me down instantly as I looked around again.

“Abeoji?” I whispered in shock, finally catching sight of the familiar figure.

“Son,” stated the man, a bright smile playing on his face as he stood beside his son, holding a hand out to help the teen up onto his own feet. Jonghyun grabbed the hand, shocked to feel how warm it was.

“A-abeoji, what is going on?” I questioned.

“Your uncle set a trap for you and Minki…” whispered my abeoji, “He knew that in order for you to end this you had to come greet him in this realm and so, he was waiting for you – waiting to split you up.”

“D-Does this mean that Minki is…”

“Yes,” stated the man glumly, “Minki is with your uncle; however, before we send you there...Minhyun has a skill for you to learn. Though it will only be useful to you in this realm after all this ends, it is a useful skill that you need to have the advantage over your uncle.”

I nodded, shocked at the appearance of the man. I felt scared all of a sudden – didn’t my uncle have control over my father.

“Don’t worry about him,” stated another familiar voice.

Spinning on my heel, I came to face Minhyun who smiled at me warmly, “Uncle is oblivious to this…”

“Minhyun…”

“Jonghyun this is not the time to be emotional,” stated Minhyun, “You need to focus because Minki’s life and the world’s fate rest in your hands…”

I looked at him in confusion, suddenly getting hit by a sudden memory: you need to be able to control the darkness to overcome it.

“You are teaching me to control the darkness, aren’t you?” I questioned.

Minhyun smiled and nodded, “Yes, because it is a valuable skill you need to know before meeting uncle.”

Jonghyun nodded.

“It is a skill that will put in advantage and it is a skill that uncle thinks that you are incapable of having,” stated Minhyun, “So, in order for you to avenge all of us who have lost our lives because of him as well as to make up for our stupid ancestors, you need to know this skill.”

I smiled and nodded, “Alrighty.”

Minhyun smiled at me, “You already possess it. We just have to wake it up.”

I looked at in in shock, “How?”

“If you are capable of controlling light or shadow,” stated Minhyun, “You can control the other naturally. With how easy possession over light comes to you – well, came to you – you should be able to control the shadows with ease as well. We just have to find the power’s trigger…”

I hummed in understanding, a little shocked at his rushed words.

“Do we have time for that though?” I questioned.

Minhyun hesitated before whispering, “N-Not really, but I have an idea of what’ll trigger the powers.”

“Wh-What?”

“Minki being in danger,” stated Minhyun.

I felt something within me shift as if those words triggered something, an odd feeling appeared in my gut and I knew something was wrong and looked around in worry.

“Do you know where he is Minhyun?”

“Why?” questioned Minhyun.

“Do you know where he is!?” I growled, sensing that something bad was happening to the prince – my charge, who I was supposed to be protecting.

“N-No, hyung, I don’t know where he is…” muttered Minhyun in worry, “Why?”

“He’s in trouble…” I muttered, power flared up within me and I got a sense that Minhyun was right about the trigger for my powers being Minki being in trouble.

[Minki’s PoV]

I felt an odd rush of energy as I felt the ground slip from underneath my feat, nausea fell over me and I felt my knees buckling as soon as there was solid ground beneath my feet again. Opening my eyes, which had turned out to be closed very tightly, I felt fear arise within my veins – Jonghyun’s hand no longer in my own. I could no longer sense his presence around me as I was surrounded by the darkness.

“Jonghyun!” I called, freezing as I heard a dark chuckle of the main we had run into when we found Jonghyun’s grandfather.

“He’s not here,” called Jonghyun’s uncle, smirking at me as one by one candles lit themselves in the room, they spiraled up the walls of the dark room – it resembled some sort of tower, “He left you alone.”

“He did not,” I muttered, knowing that he was trying to get to me, try to get the best of me.

“But he did,” stated the man, his cloaked form circling around me, eyeing me from head to toe, “otherwise, why isn’t he here?”

“Because you did something,” I stated.

The man chuckled, “I’m just doing what my ancestors set out to do upon opening the portal.”

“Your ancestors were the sworn protectors of the royal bloodline,” I stated, glaring at the man as he chuckled.

“That is exactly why we’re here, isn’t it?” stated the man, his voice thick with amusement and sarcasm, “They got tired of serving the royals – of sacrificing their lives for the useless leaders and so, they opened the tear, did they not?”

“They didn’t open the tear to destroy the royals,” I stated, feeling fear arise within me as he quickly approached me from the front, his cold hand landing on my cheek as he tightly grasped my chin, “They did it out of curiosity, but this darkness…the power over darkness – it consumed them, made them lust for chaos and blood. They did not open the portal with the intention of the world turning to a wasteland – they did not open it with the intention to see both realms fall in to disarray – to ruins.”

“You know nothing, boy,” hissed the man, his grip tightening even more, “You know nothing of this family conflict and I suggest you keep out of it if you want the lands to have a ruler in the end of this.”

 “If we don’t act, there will be no land for me to rule!” I spat out, making sure that a good bit of the spit that did end up coming out landed on his face.

The man chuckled darkly, wiping it away as he stated, “You brought the pillars back up didn’t you?”

I looked at him in question.

He just laughed, “How do you of all people plan on defeating me, the greatest sorcerer of all time? By spitting on me? I don’t think that will work my dear prince – your powers are gone and with it your swordplay ability that had been granted to you through the elemental books…you are powerless against me young prince.”

I looked at him in shock as he smirked.

“However, you are a weakness of Jonghyun’s so, despite your being powerless, you are not completely useless in this fight,” stated the man smirking, “When this is all over, you will see, I am right and you, young prince, are wrong…terribly wrong.”

I looked at him in slight fear and shock as I felt a coldness creep up my spine and as the wave pushed upward slowly, I feel numb to everything physically – I began to fall paralyzed. The man chuckled, pulling himself away from me, a victorious smirk on his face.

“You are such a fool, young prince,” stated the man, laughing evilly as he watched the crystal crawl up my legs, up my back, consuming me all the way to my shoulders and slowly – centimeter by centimeter – my face, “There is no way to beat me in my domain…there is no way someone as powerless as you can do anything to stop me – the master of darkness. There is nothing that Jonghyun can do for you anymore young prince, he’s unable to control the darkness…he’s unable to take away the curse that has been placed over you…over your land, and now, young prince – you will witness the end of it all…you will witness the fall of your guardian…of your love.”

I looked at him in shock as he smirked.

“What, did you think I was oblivious to your feelings for each other?” stated the man, amusement in his voice, “No, I knew of them from the very beginning and am using them to my advantage, prince.”

I opened my mouth to speak; however, before I could say anything, I felt the crystal consuming me completely before falling back into the darkness as the man’s muffled laughter rang through the room.

“You cannot stop me young prince and with you in my grasp, Jonghyun has no choice but to obey me!”

As my awareness faded, I cursed myself for being so useless, cursed Darkus for making me so useless despite Jonghyun supposedly needing my aid to end this once and for all. 

So, yeah, this is a relatively short chapter. I'm sorry for the drop in quality of the chapters (if they were ever of good quality), I've been trying my hardest to write them but for some reason I've just had issues. Sadly, there is only the second part to the Dark Realm and the epilogue. So, only two chapters left, so hopefully they don't disappoint you all too much.