Happy New Year!

The Second Chapter: The Prince of Pintura

“It’s time for dinner!” Victoria’s voice ceased all the conversations in the room. Or well, it hadn’t really been a conversation but more some sort of tirade from Kyuhyun, after they heard the entire story. Ryeowook was very quiet and seemed to process everything quietly while Henry, Leeteuk and Kangin were half-listening. Donghae and I hadn’t had much reason to tell them this information anyway so they weren’t really offended that we didn’t tell them.

“Let’s go!” Henry took his chance to stop the Kyuhyun from his tirade. He grabbed Kyuhyun’s hand and he pulled him towards the door and after resisting half-heartedly, Kyuhyun gave in and we went after them.

Downstairs, Victoria was preparing the table with the last plates while Clark was reading the newspaper with a disinterested face. I studied Clark’s face. He was handsome, there was no doubt about that but there was just something dark about the man. He was exactly the man who could assassinate someone else and get away with it. Hmm, it wasn’t really a nice thought.

Victoria looked up and her whole face light up when she saw all of us come down. “Ah, there you are! Come, sit down!”

We did as we were told. It was a bit cramped at the table, even such a table as large as Victoria’s, but everyone managed to sit comfortably.

Clark was still reading the newspaper and seemed not to notice that everyone was waiting for him. Victoria looked disapprovingly at him. “Clark, please put the paper down.” It were incredibly polite words but Victoria managed to make them sound very…sinister? It seemed more like a warning to say the least.

Clark looked up, saw Victoria’s face and immediately knew what to do. He sent her the most charming smile I had ever seen before, excluding Donghae’s, and said: “Of course, dear.”

I thought that I heard a gagging sound and I turned to see Henry turning away from the table. Almost everyone chuckled except for Ryeowook who sent everyone disapproving looks.

Victoria on the other hand looked happy as she saw that Clark put his newspaper away. I looked at how Clark placed his newspaper on the table and managed to read the headline.

‘Fire in Topebury’

“Wait!” I asked without thinking twice and the whole table looked at me but I hardly noticed. “Can I please see the paper?” Everyone must’ve noticed my distressed voice because they all looked at me weirdly and Clark gave me the newspaper without saying a word.

I grasped the thin papers with my hand as soon as I was able to. My eyes flew over the paper. Donghae and Sungmin who sat next to me on either side tried to read along. But in my own disbelieve I began to read the article out loud:

Topebury – Last night, around 10 p.m., a fire broke out in the center of the city of Topebury. The fire quickly spread out into the outskirts of the city. The fire department only succeeded to get the fire under control around 6 a.m. this morning. The circumstances around the origin of the fire are still unknown but several sources point their fingers at the city’s most notorious criminal: Macavity. Macavity was the archenemy of the city’s high priest and leader, Cornelius Glosbe.

Topebury is currently grieving. More than 300 hundred people died in the fire, including Cornelius Glosbe, who took the fall from the highest tower of the Topebury Cathedral. He was facing there a group of notorious criminals that are accomplices of Macavity. Glosbe held the honor to himself and made the jump rather than falling into the hands of Macavity.

Macavity appeared in Topebury a few months after Glosbe saved the city from the cursed black holes. Even though he was never seen, there were several cases that were his doing for example the destruction of one of the temples of the blue queen. There are rumors stating that Macavity is one of the Master Painter’s descendants.

The King has increased Macavity’s bounty and has decreed that anyone who is withholding information about Macavity or the Master Painter’s descendants has to come forward immediately otherwise that person is risking a death sentence.

“What’s this for crap!” Kyuhyun cried out after I was done reading. “There is not one thing that’s true in this article!”

“What are you talking about?” Clark suspiciously asked.

Kyuhyun kept his mouth shut and with a regretful face, he looked at Clark. Everyone was frozen, nobody really knew how to save Kyuhyun. So, without thinking twice about it, I opened my mouth: “Yeah, Kyuhyun what are you talking about. Macavity was the archenemy of the high priest so that was true!”

Kyuhyun blinked once and then he caught on. “Yeah, you’re right.” He didn’t elaborate more and Victoria, as if she knew what we had meant, swiftly took over: “It’s terrible though, for all those people.”

“Yes.” Everyone immediately agreed and nodded and we started with the food. Not talking about the entire event until we were with our own group in Henry’s room.

A few days later, I was stumbling to one of the various little alleys of Machène. The entire group had left me alone in the house together with Victoria so that they could go and find the stuff that they needed to save Heechul, Hangeng and Jessica. And they had left me behind because they could go faster without me.

If I’m honest, yes, it stung. Especially when Victoria left the house for an emergency at a neighbor’s house and left me alone in the house. It had been a long time since I had been alone. I had been constantly around other people and now, I was alone for the very first time.

And suddenly, the house felt too small, it felt like the walls were coming closer. So, I jumped up, ignoring the pain that went through my foot and I stumbled outside. The air felt fresh to my lungs and I calmed down. I sat down against the wall and I let the sun warm my face.

I suddenly saw something move in the corner of my eye. I blinked and then looked at the black figure that watched me from the corner of the street. I stood up and he kept standing there. It was almost like he was waiting for me to come.

So I staggered his way and slowly he turned around the corner so I assumed he still wanted me to follow him. I tried to keep up my pace but it was kind of hard. Eventually I turned around the corner and only then I realized how stupid I had been.

I was following the person that held Donghae in a cage, the person who tried to us in a black hole, the person that was trying to kill us. But I had already turned around the corner. And there he stood, his had faced towards the pavement while he stood in the shadows. I quickly looked around to see if I could run away before he could get me but I estimated the chances pretty small.

“You are very observant, aren’t you?”

I realized that this was the very first time that I had heard the black figure’s voice for the first time. It was husky as I had imagined but it was a rather clear voice and it didn’t sound as sinister as I imagined. He sounded rather refined. He sounded just like a prince so maybe the high priest had been right. Maybe the person who made these black holes was a prince, maybe he was a dark prince!

“W-what do y-you mean?” I stuttered but the stranger didn’t mind.

Instead he lifted his hood from his head and revealed a handsome face. “You are the only one that saw me every time we had an encounter.”

I nodded stiffly. “Why did you want to speak to me?” I then dared to ask him.

He looked to the side, looking into another alley as if he expected someone else to come any second now. Maybe he was expecting Donghae and the others? “My father has one of your friends locked up in his castle.”

My voice almost screeched as I asked: “Why are you telling me that here and now? Are you threatening me?”

He shook his head and said calmly: “No, I’m not. It’s a warning. Be careful not to step into any trap.”

Then he placed his hood back over his face and he left the alley.

I was left behind with no way to stop the black stranger. I watched him go and then I turned around and stumbled back to the house. I sat down against the wall and I thought about my little event. Should I tell Donghae about this encounter or not? I had to tell him that Jessica was being hold in the castle but on the other hand, I was a bit terrified to tell him that I had followed the black stranger.

But I had to, we couldn’t leave without saving Jessica here. So the entire time that I sat there in the sun trying to decide the entire time how that I could tell Donghae the best without making him very mad at me.

Around an hour later, Victoria came back to the house. “Oh, Hyukjae! Why are you sitting in front of the house?”

“The house was a bit too confining