“How much longer?” muttered Mi Young, her voice straining to be heard above the roaring wind.

“Not much longer,” responded Jonghyun, his hand clasped tightly around my freezing ones, throughally warming me up, he suddenly stopped, “We’re here – we’re at Ignis’s mountain.”

I frowned, peering up at the sky like he was doing, however – I couldn’t see what was there due to the black wall standing between the mountains and us. Jonghyun turned towards the rest of our group, “I’ll light a fire and set up the shield, you all go ahead and get ready for bed.”

The five of us hummed, and I frowned as I released Jonghyun’s hand, he then turned towards me, “Sleep well, prince.”

I opened my mouth to respond, only for him to walk off towards the black wall ahead.  I observed his movements closely, watching him as he moved gracefully around the boarder of the land that was already completely consumed by the void and the one that was still free – the land we were currently on. His eyebrows were creased with worry and his eyes seemed to glow, even if there was no light remaining in the land on which we stood – despite still being Evermoon and not Miro.

“The spread is far faster than I believed,” muttered JR, his eyes glued intently to the ground as the small orb of light started to appear over our heads – hinting that his powers were kicking in, that he was bringing up one of the strongest shields he had so far.

“How long do you think it will be until the camp is under the dark watch of the void?” questioned Mi Young, obviously seeking answers to questions we were all thinking of.

“An hour,” stated JR, “Within the next hour we will truly be within the void – we’ve been in the warning coat before, but in an hour we will be entering the actual thing, it’ll have spread from there.” He motioned to where he had been previously standing, before motioning to where he currently was, “To here. Once we are in there, you all will be able to tell the difference. However, don’t worry about that right now, all of you rest – don’t worry, I’ll be fine on guard duty.”

The other members of our small little pack happily huddled around the flames of the fire JR had set for all of us to sit around, sleep around. I on the other hand, sat near the fire but my eyes were still glued onto his pacing form on the boundaries of the void, just outside the protective barrier he had set up. He seemed a bit anxious, a bit nervous, a bit worried about what was to come, about returning to the land from which both he and I came – the land he had just recently left after being locked up for fifteen and was now re-entering. He seemed a bit anxious to return to a land he knew far better than I – the heir to it all – did. 

Upon seeing that all the others had fallen asleep, I stood up quietly and moved towards his anxious form, my fingers dancing across the silky material of the shoulder are of his cloak, goose bumps appearing on the exposed skin of my hand that was outside the barrier. A smile played on my lips as he turned to look at me, his emotions had vanished as stared at me with the most gentle of gazes.

“What’s wrong?” I questioned, knowing a bit of his worries – well, I did not actually know them, but I had a good guess at what they were.

“I’m terrified,” responded Jonghyun, his gaze turning back towards the dark wall that sat before us.

“Of what?”

“Of the dark,” stated JR, patting my hand as my arms wrapped around his neck from behind, back hugging him, “I’m terrified of it…I know the horrors that await us on the path a head. However, I’m also scared because I do not know if I can really protect you – if I can get you the elemental books and get you to the temples with no problem…If I truly have the strength to get you there safely.”

I nodded in understanding and whispered, “You’ll never know if you never try.”

He chuckled and shook his head, “You really are too optimistic sometimes, especially during times like these.”

I hummed, “Well, someone has to be optimistic during these times, don’t they?”

With a shake of his head he turned around and pushed me back into the barrier, whispering, “Keep in there. I’ve spent years in the hell hole known as the void; I know how to cloak my presence outside of the barriers of light I’ve created. Your presence on the other hand – if we had actually been in the void, which we were millimeters away from being so – is like honey to the things that lurk in the shadows, it’s ironically a beacon to a ship that is caught in a horrible storm.”

“Jonghyun-ah, don’t change the subject,” I responded, my voice having a slight serious tone to it. As soon as the words left my lips, I regretted it because of my tone – as soon as I said it, he stiffened up. His posture was corrected and the gentle gaze he had previously been sending my way turned to an emotionless one. He put on a mask that soldiers usually had on when they were talking to their superiors, when they were marching off towards war. I bit my lip as he pulled away from me slightly.

“Sorry…Minki-sshi,” muttered Jonghyun, as the honorific slipped from his mouth, I flinched – his tone and the slight hiss to it reminded me of a very sly snake.

“Jonghyun, stop with being formal,” muttered Minki, once again getting a rather stiff response from the barely older male, “Jonghyun…what I meant when I said not to change the subject was, what is bothering you so much? What fears are consuming your mind, making you act this zoned out?”

The mage turned to look at me, his onyx colored eyes sticking out on his pale skin, even in the darkness that surrounded him. He smiled slightly and whispered, “I’ve already told you my fears, Minki.”

“Then let them go,” I responded.

He looked at me in slight confusion.

“You’ve spoken about them and now they are no longer bottled up inside, so let the fear go and let it be replaced by determination.” I muttered, not exactly knowing where this speech was coming from, were the confidence and charisma was coming from, “Let the fear that is weakening you become your determination to get stronger. Use it as the determination to protect me, to become the mage they speak of in the legends – of the legends that are to come. Morph your fear into determination to succeed in all the missions our parents, our ancestors, and our people have set for you. Let it become the determination to live another day, to heal another land…to make sure this never happens again – that the void is sealed once and for all.”

Jonghyun smiled, “There is that royal blood that has been long absent...”

I looked at him in question, “What?”

“Don’t worry about it,” stated Jonghyun, stepping through the golden bubble he had formed around our little camp. The corner of his lips turned upwards in a very charming smile as he suddenly pulled me close to his chest, upon being enveloped by his arms; I felt the burn of his skin against my own despite the layers of clothing separating them, “Thank you, Minki.”

Confusion must have appeared on my features, because he carried on.

“Thank you for the encouragement, the little pep talk,” muttered Jonghyun a bit shyly, “I really needed it…”

“We all need it sometimes, especially when we’re lost astray sometimes, not physically but mentally,” I stated, he shook his head.

“It really is coming out in you,” muttered Jonghyun.

I peered at him questioningly.

“The Miroan in your blood,” stated Jonghyun, “Your bloodline…traits your parents had, your ancestors had are all showing up within you.” I pulled away from him in a mixture of shock and fear at the next words he said, “I’m grateful these traits are showing up, because if I do happen to move on without you, I know you’ll be fine…you’ll be able to make it through this alone. Your ancestor’s memories are already starting to awaken within you…well, the important ones that seem to be passed down from generation to generation naturally, unlike my family who has kept records much like the elemental books themselves through the years, books which hold every single detail and happening of every person’s life within my family...”

“Jonghyun…”

“Look, Minki, as much as you like being optimistic about this trip – as much as I would like to be optimistic it had to be said. Minki, this isn’t a fairy tale or a dream, this is the real world where people die…and I was just saying, if I do happen to die on this journey I have confidence that you will be fine,” stated Jonghyun, patting my shoulder before forcing me to turn around and gently pushing me towards my rucksack, “As much as I enjoy sharing my warmth and talking to you, you need to rest up…the time outside of the void is wearing thin…there under an hour left of our being outside the void.”

I looked towards him, pouting a bit from how he purposely cut our conversation short. I pouted a bit unconsciously as I finally did settle down in the sleeping bag, watching him through half lidded eyes as he returned to his pacing around the perimeter of the barrier, his gaze turned towards the darkness surrounding us, to the never-ending winter that was slowly inching farther and farther away from the boundaries of Miro. The last thing I saw before sleeping was him peering out over the land as if he could see something the rest of us could not, something horrifying.

“Minki,” muttered a raspy voice, shattering the very fragile dream that my mind had finally given me after weeks of nightmares and nights of silence. A warm hand was placed on my thickly clothed shoulder, the other was gently the blonde bangs that hung over my eyes, swiping them to the side for when I did open them, “Minki, it’s time to get up. We’ need to conquer the mountain today.”

My eyes fluttered open only to be shut again as they automatically caught sight of the bright orb that sat over head – much like the sun did outside the dark abyss we were currently entering. I felt my face contort into some expression my hazy mind would not put a name to, refused to put a name to so shortly after being woken up.

However, despite my dislike towards being woken up at this current point in time, during the midst of my dream the short, raspy chuckle that followed my obvious distasteful expression was like music to my ears – my alarm in this never-ending night. My eyes shot open and my guardian for this journey automatically came into view. He was leaning over me, his expression showing both the exhaustion he was obviously feeling – despite him not actually ever admitting it – and the amusement of seeing me as I reluctantly woke up.

“It’s time to wake up princess,” stated Jonghyun, “The void’s spread speed is picking up, which means we need to pick up our pace as well.”

I scoffed at the title he had placed on me – the one for the opposite gender, however, I still happily took his hand, allowing him to pull me up onto my own two feet - seeing as how I was somehow already out of my sleeping bag.  Once I was standing on my own, his hand left my own, letting the even chillier air nip at the exposed skin.

“Are we in the void?” I whispered once I was ready to go, my gaze being casted over the group. Watching the others closely, Mi Young was putting out the fire as Baekho wondered around the camp, checking his rucksack countless times to make sure he had everything.  As for the twins, the two were dressed and ready to go, their rucksack already around their shoulders. The duo watched the rest of us closely as we finished up our final preparations for our departure, they were watching JR and I exceptionally closer than the other two – obviously wondering if something was going to happen between us. That was alright because I was also watching them closely, despite them being brothers, I could tell that something was up – that they were hiding something from the other three…from me.

“Yes, your majesty,” muttered Jonghyun, who I had just now realized had been missing a couple of seconds before, as he stepped into the barrier yet again, “We are in what you could call the void. However, it still isn’t the heart of it yet. It’s not like the stuff we will be dealing with later on in our little adventure. It’s not the stuff I’m used to trekking through.”

“Stop using titles,” I muttered, “It’s weird to hear them because I’m so used to living in poverty, being the person absolutely nobody cared about on the streets.”

“Aye, Minki,” stated Jonghyun, “I will not call you by your countless titles anymore.”

I rolled my eyes, unable to resist the sudden urge that had overcome me.

“Anyway, let’s get a move on,” stated Jonghyun, “the longer we stand here, the more the world is consumed.”

The rest of us nodded and followed him as he led us through the heavy darkness, which only seemed to get thicker and heavier – more oppressive – with each step forward we took. However, the barrier did well to keep us moving, to shield us from feeling the penetrating gazes of the darkness and all the shadows that resided in it.

“Are these actual stairs?” questioned Youngmin from where he stood beside his brother, their arms gently locked together as they walked side by side.

Jonghyun hummed, “This is known as Ignis’s pass…There is over three thousand stairs that wind around this mountain heading in every which way, however we are only going to follow a single path. A path that takes us up the mountain on this side and back down the other…this is really the only path that still remains in good shape after being engulfed by the void. From my understanding, they worked on getting rid of these stairs so that no one would attempt what we are doing – so that no one would ever attempt to restore peace by finding the four books and sealing the void once and for all.”  

“Is there a story or some history to this path?” questioned Baekho, “After all, we have all the time in the day to hear stories right now…maybe it’ll make the walk pass by faster.”

“Like everything like this located in Miro, this has various myths and legends surrounding this,” muttered Jonghyun, his voice low, “many of those myths and legends have disappeared with time…the one that I remember is also part of the story of how Minki’s family came to rule…”

“So, what is it?”

“Millions of years ago, there was a great civil war in the Kingdom of Asperella,” stated Jonghyun, “The people of the massive kingdom started a rebellion against the emperor, not liking the way he treated his people, not liking his unjust nature and greediness – rather than protecting his people like a true king, he only ever worried about himself, leaving his people to die in the hands of evil. Ignis alongside five other initiated the rebellion – they led the rebellion, fighting their way from the outskirts all the way to the unreachable portion of the country…the part beyond this mountain, which at that time had been much larger than what it currently is.”

“So he made these stairs so the forces could to the emperor himself?” I questioned.

Jonghyun nodded, “Upon much discussion with the other rebellion leaders, he and another man were sent to create these stairs, but apparently when they arrived at the base of the mountain enemy forces were already awaiting the two mages. The man who had traveled with him had to retreat due to receiving serious injuries, however Ignis fought on…apparently as he let out his dying breath, he created theses stairs in the mountains for the others.”

“So he died during the attack?” whispered Baekho.

JR nodded, “Yes and as sad as it is, it is probably the truth too, because in war there is no such thing as peace, no such thing as mercy…However, no matter how tragic his death was, he was remembered as a hero and his family was blessed by the new ruler – his wife and two teen age suns.”

“Let me take a wild guess here,” stated Kwangmin, “That ruler was Minki’s ancestor.”

Jonghyun nodded and turned towards me, his fingers interlocking with my own as I shivered, “To honor his name they named not only the impassable mountain after him, but also the pass he created – it was like that even before the Great Divide.”

“What is the Great Divide?”

“It was years after the victory, the rebel leaders – under the encouragement of their underlings and their new people – split Asperella into four different countries: Evermoon, Sunope, Moonope, and Miro,” stated Jonghyun, “Minki’s family was the one to take the impenetrable land because his ancestor had done the most – he had executed the unjust emperor and he had been chosen by the land’s people…the family just happened to stay in there through all these years at the will of their people… the people that loved them very much.”

“What was so great about them?” questioned Youngmin, he looked at me in apology upon realizing how harsh it sounded, “I don’t mean it in a bad way.”

“They were just leaders,” muttered Jonghyun, “They were highly involved with their people, they were always thinking of the good of their people and they protected them with their life – I can’t tell you how many times the king died not of old age or of sickness, but while fighting for his people’s freedom and lives.”

Youngmin nodded in understanding, curling up into his brother as we continued to walk in an attempt to fend off the growing cold.

“We’re nearing the peak,” informed Jonghyun, “Once we’re there you’ll understand what I meant earlier when I said that even though we were in the void it doesn’t look like what I’m used to.”

We all hummed and I looked straight ahead, a little shocked to see that rather than being the black it was back at the camp, the sky – the clouds over head were taking on a purplish hue. I looked over at Jonghyun as I felt his grip on my hand tighten, obviously feeling very anxious about something. However, the grip was loosened as we stepped onto the final step, a sigh of relief slipped from between his lips as he stated.

“It’s still there…the protective charms worked…”

Upon hearing his words and the others gasp a bit, I turned my gaze from Jonghyun and towards what laid out before me. I was shocked, I could actually see what was before us – I could see the land which I had originally called home. I felt my breath freeze in my chest as I stared over the flat land for as far as I could see – which was to some lake, beyond that was hidden. I could see small towns and villages dotting the vast field that sat before us, to the northeast – diagonal to our current location – there sat a tall tower on top the only hill visible.

 “How can we see now?” I whispered in confusion.

“Once you get through the warning coat and pass through barrier of darkness you enter the void, otherwise known as the dark realm,” stated Jonghyun, “The warning coat and the barrier of darkness are more like the true dark realm than what lies before us. What lies before of us is the product of the dark realm attempting to consume the light. This is the result of what happens when the protective cloak separating the two realms is torn.”

“What would happen if you passed through that tear?” questioned Youngmin out of curiosity.

“If you entered the tear and passed into the dark realm, it would’ve been like the dark barrier – pitch black, unable to see your hand even if it is right in front of your face. However, since we are still in the light realm, it can’t take on its true form considering that even though the darkness is consuming the world, there is still light in this world – at least until the whole world is shrouded in darkness.”

“So what you’re saying is, this is the product of the dark realm invading the light?” stated Baekho, “and if we fail to restore the elemental pillars, this is what’ll happen to this world?”

“Pretty much, but the world will become like the barrier,” stated Jonghyun, “Not like this.”

The other hummed, staring out over the land in shock.

Jonghyun turned towards me, “Welcome home, prince.” 

After a little over half a year since the last update, the inspiration to write this story has hit again and so, here is a chapter - there are most likely going to be more to come, they will most likely be coming soon considering that I'm really in the mood to right this story right now...hopefully I'll be able to pump a few more chapters out soon - rather than updating monthly...