Although I wanted to close my eyes – wanted to look away as the man aimed towards the orb floating overhead, preparing to bring the barrier down – I could not bring myself to do so. Shock ran through me as Jonghyun suddenly pushed me away and stood up shakily yet again, I stared at him in shock as he made a motion as though he was pushing something. I then heard a blood curdling scream, which brought my gaze back to the guardian as he staggered backwards, screaming in pain as Jonghyun continued to move forward, the boundaries of the barrier advancing with him.

JR looked terrifying as he carried on forward, a yellow aura appearing around him as he continued forward until he finally stepped out of the constraints of the barrier. He stood over the Guardian that had fallen over, still screaming in pain, his cloak lightly smoking.

“As I’ve said before, I’ve grown stronger in the time since our last meeting,” growled JR, “The light’s trust in me has grown, it has granted me more power – as you’ve just discovered.”

The guardian growled, striking out angrily, enveloping them in a cloud of purple smoke, blocking the sight of what was going on from the five of us still residing  within the vicinity of the little dome.

[JR’s PoV]

I felt fear crawling up into my veins, making its presence known as a thick wall of smoke surrounded me – the guardian’s doing.  I cast my glanced everywhere, looking for the man, only to bit back a scream of pain as he rammed into me from the front – practically tackling me to the ground. The back of my head hit the chilled surface of a rock upon the landing, stunning me and making my vision spin – making multiples of him appear. I struck out, trying to hit him but missing by aiming towards the duplicates of him and not the actual him.

However, I snapped back to my senses as a hard hit landed to my jaw – despite it making me yet again hit my head off the rock, it woke me up from the little trance I had fallen into. The hit spurred me into kicking the male in the chest, kicking him off of me. I quickly jumped to my feet as he staggered back into the safety of the smoke. I kept my eyes open for him, my ears open for any sound that would give his location away – but neither came back a success.

Yet again, I found myself on the ground, however this time it was different than the rest, this time around I was face down, having been attacked from behind  - this time it was not a physical attack but a magical one, the burning pain in my back telling me so. This time, I pushed myself up with much more difficulty that I had before, the pain from the old wounds on my side and the new wound on my back making it difficult for me to move.  Just as I was about to stand he kicked my side, kicking me towards the light barrier around Minki and my four other charges due to the journey.

I heard Minki gasp at sight of my crumpled form as the smoke dissipated, once again revealing the man standing above me, a smirk on his face as he glared down at me, his foot on my chest – holding me down.

“I wanted them to see your demise,” stated the Guardian, smiling down at me, raising his hand in preparation to send the shadows into me, preparing to send the blast right through my heart, “I wanted them to see the horrible death they would go through if they chose to disobey me, if they chose to challenge me.”

As he opened his hand, I watched as the purple flame-like substance appeared. I watched as it moved towards me – it seemed as though it was in slow-motion or something. My expression of fear contorted into horror and outrage as I saw Minki’s form dive over mine, taking most of the blow in my place. I was frozen as he fell limp, collapsing onto me.

As soon as his unconscious form landed on top of me, something within me snapped and fire burned through my veins. My hands itched, the fire residing within me itching to get out – itching to kill the person who had injured my charge. I raised a trembling hand, aiming it right towards the Guardian who also stared down in shock – knowing he would be in trouble if he had killed the young prince. As soon as my hand was directed towards him – outstretched towards him, I saw red. I saw red and felt power surging through my veins, surging out of the palm of my hand.

When the red subsided, I saw a small pile of purple ash that signified that the guardian of the void was dead – that he was gone for good. He deserved it, especially after harming Minki like that – after harming my charge like that. I had been told countless times to defend him with my life; I was ready to give up my life to see him live, after all, I was an unnecessary piece in this game, while Minki was a major one. His sole existence meant life in this world. His existence was what decided whether or not we all lived or we all died of unnatural causes.

I watched as the purple particles were carried off by the mourning wind, which was attempting to calm me – despite it having to struggle against the dark holds of the void. Once the purple particles were gone, I looked down at the prone figure in my lap, gently pressing my blistering palms against the boy’s chest. Despite the pain that was coursing through my veins, I used the last of my magical energy – with had been expended in the previous fight and keeping the light barrier up – to heal his physical wounds.

“JR,” called the quartet, running to me in worry – the barrier had vanished and it was clearly worrying them. As Mi Young placed her hand on my shoulder, I shrugged it off, picking up Ren and shakily standing up.

“I’m fine,” I whispered, “Let’s get moving.”

The looked at me in concern, knowing that I was not fine, that I was not well at all.

“Jonghyun,” muttered Mi Young.

“I’ll be fine!” I snapped, “We need to get to shelter – some place we can build a fire manually considering that I’ve expended my powers.”

Mi Young nodded, falling silent and falling in step behind me, walking behind Baekho and the twins, I could feel the four’s concerned gazes on my back. I could sense their worries, not only for me but the prone figure in my arms.

[Ren’s PoV]

I felt as though I was floating, as if I was not human – as if I was some sort of ghost. Everything around me was white and it was completely silent, it scared me. Where was I? Where was Mi Young, Baekho, Youngmin, and Kwangmin…Jonghyun?

Suddenly, a city appeared around me.

Music echoed through the village aside children’s laughter as they ran through the streets and alley ways, chasing each other and enjoying the fine summer day – enjoying the sun that rested over their heads, warming their skin while it could, before the long winter came. The children played, the teens talked, the adults worked under the majestic castle that rested in the center of the two, on the top of the small hill the city was built on. The people were all over joyed, happy – completely oblivious to the darkness that was growing within the castle.

Suddenly, the image changed to one in the castle and I peered at two people whose semblance was shared with me.

“Min Seok,” whispered a woman, her stomach swollen due to her pregnancy, “We can’t keep this hidden much longer, the tear is getting darker, it’s opening…we need to order our people to leave before the void begins to consume them, before the void attempts to soil their innocent minds.”

“I know, Soohyun, I know,” whispered the man, caressing his wife’s swollen belly, “How is our little Minki doing?”

“He’s healthy,” stated the woman, “three different life mages have confirmed it.”

“Soohyun, I thought we already discussed this, it is a she,” stated Min Seok, wrapping his arms around his wife’s waist, pulling her so that her rounded stomach was pressed against his flat one.

“I thought I told you that it’s not a she, it’s a he,” stated Soohyun, lightly patting her husband’s cheek before pulling out of his hold, peering towards the door, whispering, “Jong Suk is here, he says that you really need to address the subject of the tear.”

“I understand,” whispered Min Seok, sorrow lacing his voice as he whispered, “I just wanted to spend some time with my woman, my child before I have to leave to take care of business, after all…who knows if I’ll see you again after I leave.”

“Don’t speak like that,” whispered Soo Hyun, peering up at her husband, “Don’t think like that.”

The door to the office suddenly swung open and the duo’s gaze turned towards a male who had striking resemblance to Jonghyun, a family friend of their’s.

“Jong Suk, it’s good to see you. How is Eun Ji?” questioned Min Seok, “How are the babies?”

“They are well, both Eunji and the children,” stated Jong Suk proudly, smiling, the conversation faded out for a second before suddenly coming back in, “and Jonghyun…I can’t tell you how strong I sense that child will be. He may seem very weak and small right now with how ill he has been since his birth, but I feel that as he grows older, he’ll be stronger both physically and mentally. I sense that he’ll be able to take on the challenge of protecting your daughter and seeing to it that she closes the void.”

“How many times do I have to tell you two, it’s going to be a boy,” stated the woman, frowning in slight aggravation.

Her aggravation dissipated as her husband wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her close, “Girl or boy, I’ll love them dearly, I just feel as though it’s going to be a female – if that is the case, we’ll finally be able to merge our bloodlines.”

Jongsuk nodded in agreement, his expression then turned to a serious one, “That’s not why I’ve come here though…I’ve come to talk to you about the tear….”

“What about it?” questioned Min Seok in worry.

“It has opened,” whispered Jong Suk, “We’re currently keeping it constrained in the cave, but we can’t hold it back much longer, even with all the mages putting their magic into it…the tear’s seal was torn off and the only way to replace it is with the books which have gone missing from their temples.”

“Can’t you find the books?” questioned Min Seok, “Where are the book keepers?”

“They are currently sleeping in their cribs,” stated Jong Suk, “Once…Jonghyun…were born all of those within the family lost their binds to the books, we’ve all lost sense of where they are, which is why it took us so long to figure out the books had been stolen by either someone from within my family or you own.”

Min Seok hummed in understanding, collapsing into one of the lounge chairs in his office, running a hand worriedly through his hair, “What are we going to do?”

“We find the traitor and kill them,” growled Jong Suk, “Then we attempt to find the books – which I only know the location of one since I found it prior to my sons’ birth, when I was still connected to it. Or we seal the darkness within the borders of Miro – until our children are old enough to return to this land and find the books, old enough to seal the void once and for all.”

“How will they be ready if neither can control elements?” muttered Min Seok, “To temporarily seal the void within the boundaries of Miro…it’ll take the life source of not only you and I to do so, but the blood of all your brothers and sisters. If they can’t control elements, how do you expect them to be able to save the world?”

“I’ll keep Jonghyun here with a teacher he will learn the elements without the books, I know he is strong enough to do so,” stated Jong Suk, “that way once the barrier falls, Jonghyun will be able to protect your son or daughter in their quest to find the books. That way he can teach them the ways of the elements. Teach them all about this hell hole.”

Min Seok nodded in understanding, “Which do you feel will be more successful?”

“Our second option,” muttered Jong Suk, “It would require us giving up our lives, but there is a higher success rate since they both are connected to the books.”

“Alright,” whispered Min Seok, “Then begin preparations, we will do it once all my people have fled from the land.”

“Aye, your majesty,” whispered Jong Suk, bowing towards the king and the queen before spinning on his heel and marching out of the door, leaving the King and Queen to talk amongst themselves.

“Are you really sure you want to do this?” whispered Seohyun, tears building up in her eyes as she peered down at her exasperated husband.

“I don’t want to do it, but what other way do we have?” whispered Min Seok, resting his head against his wife’s bulging stomach, “This is really the only way we can guarantee that Minki will live…even if it is for fifteen years or so…”

“B-but…”

“I’m sorry that I’ll be leaving you alone,” whispered the man, pressing a kiss to his wife’s clothed belly, “I’m sorry Seohyun.”

“I-if it is for our people, then do so…if it is the o-only way…” whispered Soohyun, resting her hand on her husband’s head, running her fingers soothingly through his hair, “then go for it.” 

Yay for a triple update!!! Hopefully these chapters made up for the long, long period of time inbetween my previous updates.