Soon after Jonghyun telling us of Dark Realm – of the true void, we had decided we would refer to what laid on the other side of the tear as the Dark Realm and the area that had been taken over by darkness the void because referring to both as both confused us and resulted in Jonghyun explaining much more than he had to.

As we descended the stairs, I could feel that something was amiss and a glance in Jonghyun’s direction told me that I was not the only one who did. Jonghyun had fallen silent, the tale he was telling ending abruptly as he motioned for us all to be quiet as well – for us all to stop walking upon reaching the base of the mountain. His gaze was cast over the surrounding area, until it locked onto something that I could not see.

“I knew it was too quiet…” muttered Jonghyun; I looked at him in confusion, however, he did not address me. Jonghyun simply stepped in front of me – between whatever he was talking to and me,  shielding me from it, “I know you’re there, come out!”

“My, my,  Neul was right about you being quick on defense,” muttered the woman, pacing back and forwards, amusement playing on her lips as she peered at Jonghyun before casting her gaze towards me, “Is that the prince? Princess would fit him better.”

My eyelid twitched in frustration at the insult.

“You appear to be a bit injured still hidden flame-sshi,” stated the woman, pacing around in front of us, “You’re favoring the one side, so just what would happen if I aimed for the other?”

I could not see Jonghyun’s face, but I knew he still wore an emotionless mask, his eyes void of emotion as he faced the enemy.

“Who are you?” questioned Youngmin, causing her attention to turn towards him.

“I did not realize there was more of you,” muttered the woman, “Moving around in such a large group is dangerous – especially with all the inexperienced, useless members that are within the group. Anyhow, to answer your question, I am a Warrior of the Void, I was once sealed away in the dark realm but fifteen years ago, I was freed from that blasted prison by my master who I’ve vowed to serve until my death. I have no name for I do not need one since I am a creature of the darkness. I am here to take your young little princess and her guardian to my master.”

“Why would you need us, the void is spreading already,” I muttered stepping out from behind Jonghyun, earning a glare from him as I did so, “You’ve already won – the darkness is already at work, consuming more and more of the light, why would you need us?”

“We need you for your purity,” muttered the woman, “You are what we need to guarantee that the void will never be sealed again, as for your guardian, we need him for his knowledge…we need him because we need to learn the where abouts of the elemental books so that we can be sure we destroyed them once and for all. If you two will not come willingly, I will force you.”

Jonghyun smirked, “I’d like to see you try.”

The woman’s eyebrows furrowed and she looked at him in disgust, “Don’t look down on me Mage, just because your ancestors have sealed me away time after time, it doesn’t mean that you will also.”

“You don’t sound too confident about that,” responded Jonghyun, smirking as he saw aggravation glowing in her eyes.

The woman yelled out in frustration, sending a concentrated burst of fire at the two of us from where we stood just inside Jonghyun’s light barrier. Frustration grew on the woman’s face as she watched the first get absorbed by the shield, making it evermore stronger.

“Get out from the barrier you coward,” growled the woman, her hands clenched into tight fists as she sent a deadly glare Jonghyun’s way.

“Alright, alright,” muttered Jonghyun, putting his hands up as if surrendering, “I was just trying to make it a fair fight.”

The woman growled as he stepped out from the barrier, casting aside my hand as I reached for him, “Your overconfidence will be your demise.”

“I’m not overconfident in my powers,” responded Jonghyun, “I just know that your dearest master sends his weaklings first before getting to the actual challenging opponents as a means to judge the strength of his enemies.”  

“You know nothing of my master!” growled the woman, automatically sending a huge wave of fire Jonghyun’s way. However, the fire went around him, as if there was a wall protecting him.

“You know nothing of me,” muttered Jonghyun, omitting a rather intimidating aura as he faced the woman who was a head taller than him. Although I could not see his face, I knew his expression was dark from the look of fear that crossed over the warrior’s face.

 “What are you?” whispered the woman in slight fear.

“You decide that,” muttered Jonghyun, sending his own wave of attack towards the woman, knocking her backwards and off balance with a large gust of wind.

The woman stumbled backwards before pulling out a long sword, obviously sensing that she would not be able to beat him when it came to magic. As she charged towards him, he sent her flying backwards on her with another gust of wind, as she sat fell on her ; she peered at him in horror as he trekked towards her.

“You’re not a Warrior of the Void are you?” muttered Jonghyun, “You are only posing as one.”

“She may be, but I am not,” muttered a man, appearing from the shadows, standing between the woman and Jonghyun. The man held a more intimidating aura than the childish girl did, he was dressed like one would imagine for a guardian of the void – in a black cloak, his face hidden, the only thing visible being his glowing yellow eyes, the only shake he had was his broad shoulder, “Sooji, you’ve done what was ordered of you, return to master.”

“A-aye,” whispered the girl, fear obvious in her eyes – she looked as though she doubted the male’s abilities, as if she doubted that he would be able to defeat Jonghyun.

“I believe we’ve met before mage,” muttered the man,.

“I believe so,” responded Jonghyun coolly.

“You know that with every day that passed these three months, my hatred has grown towards you for the mess you’ve made my physical being become,” growled the man, the low and dangerous tone to his voice causing a cold chill to run up my spine, “With every passing second my need for revenge has grown and finally, at my master’s bidding, the day has come for it.”

Jonghyun looked at the man, “Try as you will, but the result will be the same.”

“That it won’t,” muttered the man, “My strengths have grown.”

“As have mine,” responded Jonghyun, “You aren’t the only one who has been training.”

“I know, but I’m also not the one terrified of the dark…I embrace it,” stated the man, smirking as Jonghyun flinched, his stone façade crumbling just a little bit, “Ah, I’ve finally found a weakness, eh?”

Jonghyun, despite the tension appearing in his shoulders, had no other response – showed no reaction to the man’s words: neither confirming nor denying the truth to them.

The man’s gazed turned towards me, the huskiness of his voice adding to the creepiness of his words, “Prince Minki, welcome home.”

With those words, the man sent a large wave of a purple fire like substance towards Jonghyun, who automatically brought up another wall of light around himself. However, even the wall of light couldn’t protect him from the attack the guardian choose to do next. The man had advanced forward with the wave of darkness, striking JR when he was not ready, was not expecting it. I watched as Jonghyun collapsed to the ground, holding his side in pain.

As I watched the man slowly advanced to Jonghyun’s crippled form, I heard Mi Young’s voice distantly whispering, “Those wounds are still healing…”

Worry grew within me as the man stood above Jonghyun’s curled up form, looking down at him with fire in his eyes, “I’ve grown stronger with the darkness, Jonghyun, while you’ve weakened with the decrease in light…with the poisoning of the world. How will you ever be able to defeat me?”

“Like this,” muttered Jonghyun, quickly kicking the man’s legs out from under him and rolling out of the way as the man fell. As Jonghyun shakily picked himself up off the ground, the man caught himself and regained his balance.

“I still see no hope for you, young flame,” muttered the man, his eyes narrowing towards Jonghyun who had a hand on his injured side.

“I see no hope for you either,” responded JR, determination dripping from his voice. His aura seemed to grow more intimidating.

The Guardian chuckled, “Well, I see plenty of hope for me, considering that I’m a creature of the void and day by day, more of the light realm is being consumed by the void. With the decrease in light is an increase of my powers, I feel the strongest I ever have.”

JR, obviously getting tired of the small talk sent a burst of light towards the guardian, only to growl in surprise as the man suddenly sunk into the earth, appearing right in front of him.

“Young phoenix, try as you will, but you will not defeat me,” growled the man, grabbing ahold of Jonghyun’s collar and picking him up off the ground to look at him eye to eye , “Especially in this sort of condition.”

“Or so you hope,” muttered JR, refusing to lose this mental battle, “You act as if you are completely confident in your abilities, but I can see the doubt hidden deep within you.”

“Shut up, human,” growled the man angrily, throwing JR through the air. I watched in horror as he landed before me within the barrier, lying on his back in pain, “You know nothing of me; you know nothing of the struggle I had to go through to get here today. You only know of the weak me from months ago, the one that lost to you. I will kill you – even though my master told me not to – and I will take the prince with me. I will guarantee all I’ve done was not in vain!”

I rushed over to JR, helping him to sit up – concern flooded through me as I saw the pain in his eyes, as I turned my gaze towards the man to see him advancing towards the six of us, towards the small dome. Aggravation soon followed the concern as I grew frustrated due to the fact that I was unable to aid Jonghyun in this battle – not liking that I had to stand and watch as Jonghyun was beaten down. I hated the fact I could not stand beside him, could not fight beside him in battles like this one.

“Young Phoenix,” stated the Guardian, just outside the barrier, raising his hand, “This is your demise….” 

I'm on a roll here...two chappies written in the same day! Surely, this makes up for my lack of updating - also, the second part will be coming here in a little while, please look forward to the continuation of JR and the guardian's battle (as poorly written as it is).