With a shaky breath, Jonghyun waves his fingers over the water, making the girl in the water disappear. He starts speaking again, the colors in the water shifting and swirling to form more pictures to illustrate his story, but his words captivate me just as much.

        “Long ago, the household of the Eastern Dragon King was blessed with the birth of a dragon princeling after many eons. The King was overjoyed to finally have the heir he needed to inherit his kingdom and treasured his son above all else, always keeping him by his side.

      But the prince grew curious about the world beyond the palace and its grounds, eagerly devouring the stories his father’s subjects would bring back from the human world. Though his father gave him anything he asked for, the one thing the King denied his son was to visit Earth for he was still unwise in the ways of the world. However, after the prince gained a celestial pearl, marking his attainment of the rank of a true dragon, there was little the King could do to stop his son. Thus, he bestowed the guardianship of the eastern skies to the prince and allowed him his to journey to the mortal world.

        The prince split his days between the sea kingdom and wandering the earth, observing its wonders and its most fascinating creatures, humans. Then, one day, he came upon one who captivated him more than anything else.”

I open my mouth to protest that it’s not me in the image when the girl appears again, but Minho squeezes my shoulder and shakes his head.

    “From the minute of their meeting onwards, he was spellbound and he grew more so as time passed for her nature was more beautiful than her face. Day after day he watched over her, freeing her from slavery and helping her attain a comfortable life, all the while keeping his true identity a secret for fear she would reject him.

    The King became suspicious as the prince spent less and less time in the palace, eventually forcing his sons to tell their brother’s secret. Perturbed that his heir should be so enamored with a mortal, he set about to end their love, slipping the prince an herb that would make him unable to retain his human form. The herb took affect the next day when the prince visited the girl, causing him to accidentally wound her in the process but instead of being afraid, she did not blame him and loved him all the more.

    When she did so, the prince made up his mind to marry her. Wanting his father’s approval and still ignorant of his actions, the prince left her with the promise of his swift return to bring her into the Dragon King’s realm. The girl’s pure love had failed to impress the King, who still believed that any human to be undeserving of his son as well as that this affair was just a fleeting fancy soon to be forgotten. Thus, when the prince came to ask for his approval, the King pretended to give it on one condition; that he help begin the training of the new princes who had arrived from the other three dragon kings’ courts.”

The pictures in the water seem to be getting closer and Jonghyun’s voice is getting quieter. I shake my head to clear it, trying to concentrate on Jonghyun, but my mind continues easing away.

    “The prince readily agreed, seeing no harm in spending time helping his father. But each time the prince would think his task was done, the King would ask for him to stay just a little longer. Then, one day...”

Jonghyun’s voice fades as I slip into scene, my own existence stilled into muteness.

    The prince sits in the garden, calling out occasional words of advice to the younger men as move slowly through exercises. All of a sudden, his eyes widen and he falls forward with a scream of pain, clutching his heart. Ignoring the frantic voices and hands of the others, he slowly pulls back his shaking hand to reveal a large, glowing pearl nestled in his palm.

“No,” he says breathlessly, denial spreading across his face. “No!”

    The others are thrown back by the wind as he jumps into the air, transforming into his mighty dragon form. Storm clouds gather at his tail like kites as he speeds through the skies of the mortal realm. When he reaches the small house, the dragon freezes, looking at it in shock. The once fine structure is now in ruins, roof tiles scattered amongst the jungle of weeds in the courtyard.

    As he looks down, he hears the funeral chants of a shaman through his increasingly frantic thoughts. With a flick of his body, he reaches the small graveyard on the side of the mountain just in time to see the last of the dirt being packed onto a new grave. When the dragon reads the name carved on the simple wooden marker, he lifts his head and lets loose an agonized roar, bringing down the fury of the heavens upon the mountains.

    What few mourners were present quickly scurry back down the path to try to escape the torrential rain and wind. As the last of the humans disappears, the prince lands in front of the grave in his human form, stumbling closer. He falls to his knees in the mud when his legs lose strength, hand outstretched.

“Haeyong,” he whispers. “Haeyong...Haeyong!”

    The prince suddenly scrambles at his chest, fumbling with the infuriating fabric. With a gasp, the pearl appears, its bright glow seeming to mock his pain.

“Please. Please help me.”

    When nothing happens, another anguished cry rips from his chest as tears stream down his face to mix with the rain. His hands fall useless at his side as his entire body shakes with sobs, folding over on itself. His suffering tugs on my heart until it feels like it’s breaking. Unable to help myself, I extend a ghostly hand towards him. I hesitate, withdrawing a little before reaching out again. As my fingers brush his head, I’m torn away from him, from the world.

“No!” someone roars, their voice vibrating through my head. “Not again!”

    I feel myself falling, but someone catches me. However, my relief is only temporary as I’m quickly shoved into a smothering dark. My breath quickens as fear takes over my otherwise useless senses and limbs. Am I going mad as the King feared?

“More time, more time,” the voice whispers.

“Lilly!” Minho’s voice suddenly breaks in as blackness grows less heavy. “Seriously, not again. Wake up!”

I push away his hand that’s tapping my cheek and blink open my eyes. “I wasn’t asleep. I was listening to....why am I on the floor?”

“You just collapsed.” Minho scoots back and helps me sit up. Once he’s sure I can sit up on my own, he hurries around the table to where Jonghyun lies with his eyes closed. “You both did.”

“Is he all right?” I ask,trying to do the same but slipping on water. “What-”

“The bowl burst, though I couldn’t tell if it was at the same time or after you too fell over,” he explains, lifting Jonghyun up to lean against him and starting to call his name.

Looking at the table in surprise, I carefully pick up a piece of the bowl that is now scattered in pieces. “It just broke? Why?”

Jonghyun groans all of a sudden, slowly lifting a hand to his head.

“Hyung, are you all right?” Minho asks, worriedly, readjusting his grip on the other’s shoulders as I move to Jonghyun’s other side.

“Yeah, but I feel like I did when I snuck some of Father’s soju when I was younger,” he mutters, rubbing his eyes. When he opens them he catches sight of the piece of the bowl I still have in my hand. “You’re kidding me! That’s my favorite scrying bowl!”

“Easy, hyung. I’ll fix it,” Minho assures him, taking the piece of metal from me and starting to gather the rest together. “What happened? You were talking and then this exploded and you two just collapsed.”

“I...I don’t know,” Jonghyun admits warily, still rubbing his head. “Everything was going just as usual and then bam! Felt like someone hit me over the head; everything was gone. It happened sometimes when I still learning to control myself but ... this felt wrong.”

“We should ask Kibum hyung after I finish fixing this for you.”

Jonghyun shrugs and continues holding his head.

“Let me.” I scoot in front of him and gently push his hands away to replace them with mine. Massaging his temples, I resist the temptation to watch Minho’s work. “Feeling any better?”

“A little. Thanks” he replies. “Did anything happen to you?”


I hesitate, but I find the words slipping out anyway. “I was in your story... I saw what happened when the prince found out she had died and then when I tried to touch him, something pulled me away...and then someone said, ... ‘More time.’”

The brothers share a surprised look.

“Did you recognize the voice?” Minho asks, setting aside the once again whole bowl.

I shake my head, resuming my concentration on relieving Jonghyun’s pain.

He stops my hands. “Whoever it was didn’t harm you, right?”

“How could a voice hurt me? It was part of a vision, right? Though I’m not sure why I would have one since you two are the one with the magic powers.”

“Could be that the spirits didn’t want her to see something,” Minho offers, though he sounds doubtful. “I remember you trying to reach too far when we were younger.”

Jonghyun gives him annoyed look over my shoulder. Shaking his head, he decides to talk about something else. “Did what you saw help you understand? You won’t try to hurt yourself more?”

“It was a stupid, last-ditch move anyway so no,” I reply, taking a deep breath. I’d done too much crying already; I had to take a page out of the book of one of my childhood heroines and just make the best out of it.

“Lilly? What’re you thinking about?” Minho asks when he sees my half smile.

“Nothing,” I half laugh, remembering of how much I longed for an adventure like hers when I was a child and how much I wanted to leave it now. “Just Belle.”

Jonghyun frowns. “What bell?”

“Never mind. To answer your other question, I kind of understand why I’m here. You all think I’m the girl, her name’s Haeyoung, right? A reincarnation or something. Those things you showed me when I first got here, like this necklace, those were hers, weren’t they?” When they nod, I continue, “I still think you’re wrong. Yes, we look similar, but there’s something like seven people who look similar to every one person on the planet. That doesn’t mean they’re the same. Plus, if I was her, wouldn’t that make me schizophrenic? Because I’m definitely not.”

“Lilly,” Jonghyun interrupts.

“Yes?”

“How long have you had the scars on your back?”

Startled, I meet his eyes. “What?”

“You have four scars from your shoulder to mid-back,” he replies calmly. “Four diagonal lines, all almost straight except for the top one, which is the shortest and slightly curved. The middle two are close together and about the same length. The last one at the bottom is slightly shorter.”

I grip my sleeves, pulling the blouse tighter around myself. No one except my family has seen them. “How do you know?”

“Because that’s where Onew scratched Haeyoung when he transformed into a dragon.”

“A dragon?” I laugh nervously. “I got them from a car accident. The glass-”

“How old were you?”

“It was two days before my-”

“Eighteenth birthday. Same as Haeyoung.”

“Look, I’m not her,” I tell him, standing up. “She lived what? Thousands of years ago? I’m sorry, but she’s dead and I’m alive. I’m stuck here, I know that, but I’m not going to be marrying anyone.”

“And no one’s going to force you,” Minho assures me, steadily meeting my eyes. “All we’re asking... is that you give our brother a chance.”

“You saw how he much he suffered when Haeyoung died,” Jonghyun adds quietly, his face uncharacteristically serious. “He’s had to live with that pain ever since. He smiled again eventually, but never the same. Even if you don’t love him, can’t love him, please let him see you, talk to you.”

“We just want our brother to be the way before, please, noona.”

All three of us jump when we see Taemin standing by the door, looking only a little guilty.

“Taemin! Where in Heaven’s name did you come from?” Jonghyun chokes, clutching his chest.

“And when?” Minho asks cautiously.

“I’ve been here the entire time,” he answers. “I went back to noona’s as a mouse after we left because I was worried about her. I got there in time to see you save her, hyung, and then I followed you here. Don’t worry though; I won’t tell Father. I agree with you.”

His brothers give twin sighs of relief.

“Even so, we should probably get her back before Kibum hyung realizes she’s gone,” Minho says, rising to his feet.

“Do I really have to stay in my room still?” I ask. “He knows I’m here now.”

“We’ll have to ask, but you’ll probably have more freedom soon.”

I nod and look back to Jonghyun. “Thank you for showing me...what happened.”

He shrugs it off, standing too. “My pleasure. Well, not really considering what happened, but you know what I mean. If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a water sprite to appease.”

I walk out with Taemin and Minho by side, waiting until we’ve turned the corner to ask, “Is he always like that?”

“You mean the womanizing?” Minho chuckles. “Yeah. Then again, I can’t really blame him. A lot of seers go mad because of what they see in their visions.”

“So he deals with it by surrounding himself with beautiful things to counteract horrible things he sees.”

“That and hyung just really likes girls,” Taemin laughs. “He even use to use me to get in with visiting princesses because I was so cute.”

“Speaking of princesses, do you all have any sisters? What about your mothers? I’ve only seen men here.”

“Our mothers come and go as they please to be honest since they keep some of their original responsibilities. As for sisters, ... you were our first and last noona.”

Minho nods in agreement. “Father can’t seem to have anything other than sons. That’s probably why we all became attached to you.”

I choose to ignore the fact that that ‘you’ was actually referring to Haeyoung. “Does that ‘we’ include ....Chanyeol and ...Yifan?”

Taemin nods. “They’re our sworn brothers since their fathers are the two of the other Dragon Kings, the Northern and Southern Kings to be exact. Since our father is the high king, the others send one or two sons to live here and train until they’ve completely mastered themselves, or, in Yifan hyung’s case, attained his pearl since he’s a dragon like Onew hyung.”

“Another dragon, huh?” Since my question block seems to be lifted, I try another question. “What’s so special about their pearl?”

My luck holds as Minho answers as we round what I think is the last corner to my room, “A dragon’s pearl i- Oh, hyung.”

The prince, hand poised to knock on my door, looks just as surprised as his mouth opens and closes a few times.

I look down to avoid his disconcerting gaze.

“I just came by to check on her. Is- is everything all right?” he finally asks.

“Everything’s fine. Lilly just wanted to stretch her legs,” Minho replies, Taemin nodding in agreement. “Thought it might help her feel better.”

“Lilly,” the prince repeats, as if to remind himself. Clearing his throat, he holds out a hand and says, “Lilly, perhaps you’d like a walk in the garden? You can see the sun and the flowers are always in bloom.”

    The possibility of going outside makes me look up to find him staring at me. His eyes are gentle enough, but I’m still not sure what to make of this man. Glancing at Taemin and Minho, I remember what the three of them asked of me back in Jonghyun’s room.

Closing my eyes, I open them as I step forward. “All right.”

A happy smile blooms across the prince’s face although he quickly forces it into a slightly more reserved one. “It’s this way.”
 

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Surprise!! I'm back! Yes, this site is sometimes blocked here in China because it includes a blog feature(one that's not controlled by the governent). However, I think I figured out how to get on so hopefully I'll be able to update once every two weeks or so. Anway, sorry for leaving y'all alone for so long and thank you so so much if you stuck around for this long without any reward. Love you all and hope you enjoy the update! <3