“So, you’ve seen through my façade, huh?” muttered the old woman, suddenly sounding far younger than before, her expression darkened and a creepy smile dressed her face as she was consumed by a purple mist. When the fog cleared, it revealed a woman dressed in purple cloaks which were like the ones in my dreams – well, nightmares – and only revealed her chin and lips, “My, my, it’s the third day and the prince is still without his guardian…what is that mage doing? Tsk, tsk. I guess I’ll just end this quickly then.”

The young woman walked forwards, a smirk on her lips as she did so. The twins and I looked at each other in worry, only to stare in shock as a sudden orb of light was shot at the girl and she let out a high pitched screech, backing away from the three of us, glaring at something behind us with serious hatred.

“So you’ve finally decided to appear?” Hissed the woman, disgust covering her face as she stared intently at whatever was behind the three of us.

There was a hum that sounded behind us had us turning around in shock and face the cloaked male that stood behind us, “My charges are in danger, you can’t expect me to just sit here and watch you harm them.”

“That’s what you’ve been doing all your life, how could I not expect it?” chuckled the woman, smiling smugly when she saw that she was getting under newcomer’s skin.

“I do believe that isn’t what I did,” responded the newcomer gaining control over his expression again, staring at her with a stoic expression, “Also, you don’t have room to speak, and last I checked you were also locked up in Miro because of the barrier. Oh, another thing – I’m right on schedule.”

The woman glared at the male, growling out viciously like an animal of some sort, as she jumped towards the male there was an invisible force that pushed the three of us out of her path – allowing her to strike at him full force, only to fall on her face as he moved out of her reach rather rapidly.

“You’re still new at fighting, huh?” chimed the male, in a nonchalant tone, smirking at the girl who pushed herself back onto her feet, “The darkness must really be desperate if he is sending amateurs after me and my charges.”

“I-I’m not an amateur, I’m one of the best,” growled out the girl– angered by the mage’s words.

“One of the best?” stated the male, the tips of his lips – the only part of his face visible – tiled up into an amused smiled as he stated, “Who told you that?”

The girl growled out and lunged at him again, only to stop when the male’s hand landed on her forehead and started to burn a bright yellow – pulling a loud screech from the girl’s throat as she erupted into yellow flames – soon turning completely into purple ashes.

The new comer looked down at the pile of purple ashes, covering them in snow with his foot – the expression on the male’s made him look like he was completely and utterly disgusted and he probably was.

“Who are you?” asked the twins defensively, moving to stand in front of me – their glares pointed towards the male who stood in an oddly familiar black cloak. I stared at him, recognizing the male from my dreams – nightmares.

I pushed the twins aside and moved towards the male in silence, reaching out cautiously towards the male’s hood. The male tensed up as I approached him, but as I stood before him I could feel the familiar warmth settling over me like in my dream and I had a feeling the same warmth had settled over him to. My heart pounded lightly in my chest – as if it knew who was hiding behind the thick black cloth.

The fabric was rough in my hold as I grasped ahold of it, pulling it slowly from his head – revealing the rest of his face while holding my breath and chewing on my bottom lip in fear and anticipation. When the hood was finally off, my eyes gazed straight into dark onyx colored orbs, which returned my gaze. The male’s dark brown – almost black hair slowly began to collect snow in it, creating a beautiful and mystic effect on him, making the male all more attractive.

“You’re the one from my dreams,” I stated.

The male nodded, knowing that there weren’t any need for words when I already knew who he was.

“Who is he?” asked Youngmin, curiously.

“Do you know him?” asked Kwangmin shortly afterwards.

“This is the mage my father sent,” I stated, “The one who has been locked away in the snowy wasteland – Miro, our homeland.”

“How do you know so?” asked Youngmin, “You can’t go around trusting everyone who suddenly appears out of thin air like we did with that woman who was actually out to kill us.”

“I know,” I responded, keeping my gaze on the male who stood before me, his skin tanner than my own despite me seeing the sun far more than he had. I spoke again towards Youngmin, “I know him though. He’s been with me in my dreams…he’s the one who keeps the darkness’ words at bay. He’s the one who blocks the whispers from my hearing most of the time.”

“I’m his guardian,” the raspiness of his voice made me shiver and feel trust bubble up inside of me as well as a something I couldn’t put a name or emotion to – the two obviously felt the trust as well because the twins stopped asking questions after he spoke.

We stood in silence for a couple of minutes before the male suddenly cursed, grabbing ahold of my wrist and dragging me in the direction the three of us had originally been heading – the path that lead out of town and into the surrounding forest. The twins, sensing that something was off, followed close behind us– constantly peeking over their shoulders as they felt someone staring at them continuously.

“I didn’t think they would find you this quickly,” stated the male, the skin of my wrist burned where our hands made contact with each other – his body temperature abnormally higher than mine, than the twins’.

“Who are they?” I asked curiously, knowing that he would only answer to me – not the other two.

“The creatures of your nightmares, Minki,” stated the male, “they are unsure of which of us to go after…you or me. However, either way, they are far too close to my liking – plus, if they separate us before you learn to control at least one element, it will end up catastrophic for the whole world.”

“How so?” I asked curiously.

“I don’t know and I hope never to find out,” stated the male, avoiding the question.

“Why would they want you?” asked Youngmin, “No offense, but I thought Minki was the only one who can restore the pillars.”

“He is,” stated the male who dragged me along, “However, he needs me to find them – you all need me to lead you through the darkness that sits over the kingdom. Quite frankly, you all wouldn’t last a day without me by your side. The darkness is far stronger than you all think – the closer to the void you get the more power the shadows possess. The more capable they are of wiping you out with one wave of their hand.”

“How do we grow stronger?”

“We find the four elemental books – although you two can’t harness the elemental powers, the books give you all strength – they teach you to fight,” stated the male, “They teach Minki to harness the powers and they help restore balance to the world.”

“Where are the books?” I asked, curious as to how to help the world as fast as possible.

“That is the very problem,” stated the male – refusing to tell his name, “The last time the books were used to restore balance was when the world was first created, the books have the power to awaken magic any anyone who touches them. They had brought about many dangerous mages…they brought about the creator of the void and the darkness – both of which have been sealed away hundreds of times before, only to break free again.”

“But what of the books?” stated Kwangmin.

“The books usually reside in their temples, easy access for someone of royal Miroan blood – someone with the power to harness the elements to come by and unlock their powers enough to strengthen the elemental pillars and close the void,” stated the mage, “Countless times the darkness and the void have been opened by mages with their minds clouded by the small shred of darkness that remains in the world even after the void is sealed. Countless times have the books been unlocked and used to seal the darkness. However, never has the darkness been this strong before – this is the first time the void – the darkness – has stretched outside of Miro’s borders.”

“Why is it that the darkness is so strong?” I asked, dreading the words that would slip from the mages’ lips.

“The pillars – which are made by the books, usually burn brightly within the books’ temples even when the books are locked– have been destroyed,” stated the mage, sorrow shone on his face, “The mage who awoken the darkness this time around was strong enough to shatter the pillars, which in turn allowed him to remove the books from the temples.”

“So where are the books now?” asked Kwangmin.

“That I don’t know,” whispered the mage, “I know the location of one, however, I am not allowed to speak of it because I don’t know whose ears are listening. We have to find them though, because without them we won’t be able to restore the pillars – we won’t be able to seal the darkness once and for all by creating new pillars.”

I looked at him in shock, “What are we going to do?”

“For starters, we are going to the first elemental books’ location – the only one I know the whereabouts of,” stated the mage, “It’ll be extremely dangerous and the cold and darkness will grow as we near its location, however, we must reach it before the darkness discovers it.”

“What will we do once we get the book?” asked Youngmin, curiously.

“Minki will use it to unlock his first elemental power and you two will use it to restore the strength that is locked away in you,” stated the mage, “As for me, I will keep hold of the book.”

“Why do you get to keep ahold of it?” questioned Kwangmin.

“As soon as we get the book and you all use it to gain power, a little pit of its power will be released and as soon as that power – which the darkness craves for – is released, we will be hunted down by the creatures of the dark and the Warriors of the Void, possibly even the man who caused the void to open this time around,” stated the mage, “If I hold onto the book, I should be able to withhold that leak of power and buy us some time to locate the others, which is a lot better than being attacked by the Warriors of the Void as soon as you all gain your new powers – which your bodies will have to adjust to, making so you are unable to fight.”

The three of us thought about his words before I stated, “I think it would be best if he held onto it. Like he said, it would be best if we could buy some time to locate the other books before getting attacked by the creatures of the dark. Plus, it’d probably be best that the strongest of us is in charge of it, after all, we don’t want it to be stolen from us as soon as the power is leaked from the book.”

The twins thought about my words before nodding in agreement. They both saw the logic in having the mage keep hold of the book through our travels.

I opened my mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by a horrifying screeching sound that came from else were in the woods. I flinched and covered one of my ears since my one wrist was still in the mages grip.

The mage cursed under his breath and pulled me along more hastily, the darkness was growing thicker and we could barely see outside of the area that the orb illuminated. The wind had picked up as well as and there was a heavier snow fall. There was another screech that sounded far closer, however, it was followed by a sudden thud and a higher pitched screech which caused me to look up and see this shapeless creature flying into the dome of light the orb produced and suddenly burst into purple ashes which drifted down to the ground like snow.

I had frozen from shock as had Youngmin and Kwangmin, we all stared up at the orb and then glanced down at the pile of purple ashes that rested at our feet. I trembled slightly.

“What was that thing?”

The mage spun to face me, “That is the first level of the creatures of the darkness. It’s harmless – it was a baby. However, their screech – if not shielded by the light, can paralyze you for up to three days. They are easy to take care of and are usually extremely stupid creatures; however, they usually travel around in packs and usually travel near level 5s.”

“Level 5s?” I questioned, as soon as the words slipped from my lips I heard a darker growl that founded far more dangerous.

The mage suddenly spun around again and began pulling me again, ordering Kwangmin and Youngmin to keep up and make sure not to step out of the shield.

“Level 5s are the things that create the thing you saw fly into the dome – they can easily break this thin of a dome and are usually very protective over level 1s – the thing that had flown into the dome,” stated the mage,  “It seems as though I’ve angered one and it’s not very happy.”

We heard more low growls and the mage groaned in annoyance.

“It seems as though we’ve unknowingly passed into a nesting ground of them,” stated the mage – suddenly the orb grew brighter and the dome that surrounded us became apparent, looking through it, everything had a yellow tint to it.

“Why didn’t you worry about it sooner?” questioned Youngmin, “Shouldn’t you have been aware of their nesting grounds?”

“I wasn’t expecting it,” muttered the mage, “They usually don’t have it this far from the border – in this warm of a location.”

“Jonghyun,” I muttered in fear – shocking the mage who hadn’t been expecting his name to fall from between my lips since he hadn’t told me it in person or in my dreams. He looked at me, only to follow my gaze and see that I was staring at a horrendous creature that looked like some sort of deformed bear that stood by the barrier, looking in – surrounded by other creatures like it, “We have more pressing matters.” 

Hopefully the last bit wasn't too confusing... ^^

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this long overdue chapter. Anyway, I'll be focusing on this story now, since I only have to post my epilogue for the story I was focusing on prior to this - however, I still can't garuantee that there will be regular updates. 

Hope you enjoyed. ^^

P.S. Could you possibly post a comment, so I know that I still have readers? You don't have to if you don't want to, but I'd appreciate it. ^^