“Here.” He opened the bottle and crouched down besides Sunggyu. “It’s a healing magic bottle. Don’t worry, it’s made of water element, not light. It shouldn’t be harmful to you.”

As he was about to treat Sunggyu’s wound, Jieun took the bottle from him. “You go to the Holy Palace and find out what’s going on. I’ll treat his wound.”

*Tch. What kind of a person would snatch something from someone else like that? How rude. Even if it’s my beloved Jieun, I can’t…  UGH!* Woohyun felt annoyed at his own flashback.

Ever since he had arrived at the Holy Palace as told, he had not been able to concentrate on his surroundings as he constantly replayed the scene of Jieun taking care of Sunggyu in his head. Nonetheless, rather than feeling sad, he now felt somewhat angry at Jieun’s audacious action.

Still, it was his beloved Jieun. Woohyun would normally forgive any mistakes coming from a girl, especially the one he had been courting for a long time. But this time, he could barely contain his irritation, which was not normal for the womanizer.

“OPPA!” A loud voice echoed throughout the Holy Palace, and Woohyun felt two hands slap hard on his cheeks. The pain seeped in and snapped him out of his thoughts.

“Ouch!” Woohyun whined as he felt his cheeks stinging. He shot a quick glare at the culprit: Minjoo, Goddess of Water.

“Don’t you glare at me! I have been— no, WE have been calling you for a while now. Why are you daydreaming at a critical time?!” Minjoo glared back as she scolded the other. Seeing her oppa in pain with his cheeks burning red, her voice softened again.

“Oppa, we need your help.” The Goddess of Water stepped aside, revealing a few other gods and goddesses standing behind her, looking beaten up.

“Help? With What?” Woohyun said as he tried to soothe the pain, without so much as a glance at the others behind Minjoo. He was in no mood to keep up his Prince image.

Minjoo rolled her eyes at the grown-up man still whining about his cheeks. “Healing. You’re the best at healing, aren’t you?”

In Paradise, it was common sense that each skill had its own specialised element. For example, destructive spells worked the best with dark elements. Of course, every other element had its own destructive spells as well, and, depending on the god’s skill, the power of the spell varied. However, in the end the strongest element for any kind of destructive spell was still darkness. That did not mean that any God of Darkness would be the strongest at attacking. If there existed another god with more power than a God of Darkness, his or her destructive spell, even if it wasn't of darkness, would still be able to overwhelm that of the God of Darkness.

In Woohyun’s case, he was the God of Light, whose element was healing. While his other skills were well above average, his healing ability was the strongest in Paradise at that time. As a successor, Woohyun showed great potential to become an even stronger god should he wish to. But Woohyun had refused to train thoroughly and focused only on his healing ability. When questioned by the previous God of Light, Kibum, this was his answer:

“Everyone thinks being strong is all about defeating others,” Woohyun said as he practiced his healing skill on an injured deer they had encountered on Earth. “But to me, that’s just like being a sack of meat containing more power than necessary.”

Kibum raised his eyebrows at the little boy’s odd comparison. Normally, young male successors trained hard to be the strongest God out of self-satisfaction and even pride, perhaps. On the other hand, Woohyun was indifferent towards the heated competition and the struggle for the top ranking.

“I don’t care about defeating others. Competition is a pain,” the boy continued.

Woohyun suddenly stood up and retreated back to Kibum’s side. At the same time, the deer, now completely healed, slowly got back on its feet and sprinted away. Kibum was surprised to see that the boy had managed to heal the large animal in such a short amount of time.

Woohyun smiled as he watched the deer run off into the forest. “Even so, I can’t leave the injured alone. Since my element is light, I have decided that I should just focus on healing. Don’t you think that’s a brilliant idea—?”

“Brilliant idea, my foot! Don’t try to sweet talk your way out of training. Back to work now!” Kibum knocked the boy’s head as hard as he could.

“Aish— FINE!” Woohyun stomped away, cradling the fresh bump on his head. The moment he did, a smile slowly appeared on Kibum’s face. The man was very proud to have a kind-hearted successor.

Healing spells were disregarded by every god and goddess, who had basic regeneration ability. Only when they were attacked by strong forces that inflicted long-lasting damage did they need to rely on healing spells. For this reason, the healing ability was not well respected in Paradise. Since Paradise was a world of peace, why would anyone care for healing?

“You’re the Goddess of Water, aren’t you? You should be able to heal them without my help,” Woohyun pointed out; his tone was a little harsh with a hint of annoyance.

The water element was second to light in terms of healing. As the Goddess of Water, Minjoo’s ability to heal was automatically better than the rest’s.

“Oppa, were you not listening? There are too many injured gods and goddesses for me to handle. That’s why I’m asking you,” Minjoo said, frowning at Woohyun’s attitude.

“Why are you acting this way, oppa? You normally would be very eager to heal others. Suddenly, you’re acting like it’s troublesome. What happened to the usual kind oppa that I know?” The girl was fuming with anger.

Woohyun sighed, knowing that it was wrong of him to take out his frustration on the innocent Minjoo. He glanced in her direction and saw a line of injured waiting to be heal by him. His conscience was screaming at him for acting childish. Woohyun heaved another breath, blowing up his fringe in the process. He then clapped his hands briskly and rolled up his sleeves.

“Fine then. Time for me to shine.” Woohyun immediately walked towards the injured and proceeded to heal them at the speed of light.

Minjoo smiled; the usual Woohyun that she knew was back. She stood behind him as he was healing a beautiful goddess, not forgetting to fire away the usual cheesy words.

“Thank you, oppa.”

“Don’t think I’m doing this for free. I will tend to only these lovely goddesses. You take care of the male gods,” Woohyun said as he flashed the goddesses his killer smile.

Minjoo rolled her eyes at the womanizer. “Yessir.”

As she was about to leave, Woohyun called out in a quiet voice, “Just a second.”

“Yes oppa?”

Woohyun hesitated for a moment. “…P-please give me three healing potions with the water element.”

“Huh? Sure, but why? You’re the healing master, why would you need my healing potions?” the girl wondered in confusion.

*Because if I heal him, it’s the same as killing him with my power,* Woohyun thought as the injured Sunggyu flashed through his mind.

With a heavy sigh, he replied, “Just do it.”

“Alright then. I’ll have them ready for you in an hour, is that okay?”

“Any time Minjoo-ah~”

Woohyun switched his flirting mode back on and began to lavish her with his “love”. Minjoo rolled her eyes at his behaviour and left to do her work. She was probably the only goddess besides Jieun who was unaffected by Woohyun’s cheesiness. Even so, there was one thing she had failed to notice.

Woohyun’s eyes were not laughing.

↭↭↭↭↭↭↭↭

“Get him!”

“Don’t let him escape!”

“Tch. He disappeared.”

“Let’s spread out and find him.”

.

.

.

“Ayyyyy-la-hee!” Woohyun jumped out of the teleportation hole, his face looking a bit terrified as if he had just barely escaped death.

Looking around cautiously, he realised he was in the Thana Garden. After making sure that there was no one in sight, he began to wander about aimlessly — or so he thought. Unconsciously, his legs lead him towards the Banyan tree. Woohyun stared at the empty tree, and a vision ran through his mind.

Sitting on the branch was a figure with the usual long, gloomy dark coat and a cold poker face. But he would smile a little at Woohyun when he saw the latter – at least, when they were still friends. Frowning at the illusion before him, Woohyun closed his eyes and shook his head in an attempt to return to reality. He looked back up at the branch, and, of course, there was no one there.

With empty eyes, Woohyun stared at the tree and chuckled at the bitter reality. *Of course. Who am I kidding?*

The lifeless chuckle soon turned into a small yet heart-breaking smile. In a flash, Woohyun teleported to the branch and rested himself against the tree trunk. The God of Light was visibly exhausted. He sighed heavily and slumped down against the thick branch. As much as he was happy to heal others or to be recognized for his top-notch skills, his power was limited. One would get exhausted if one were to use one’s power non-stop for days. Everyone was impatient with the slow healing rate of the normal healing potions, and all sought Woohyun the God of Light in hopes of being completely healed in a flash. This was especially true of the ladies; knowing that Woohyun was weak against women, they continually pestered Woohyun and used their female charms to get Woohyun to comply with their requests.

As he had reached the limit of his power and rejecting a lady was out of question, the god had no other choice but to flee. It was at times like this that his popularity was a bother. The infamous womanizer had been bringing women to all of his not-so-secret spots. The goddesses always managed to discover Woohyun by combining their information on his favourite places together. Out of desperation, Woohyun’s last place to hide was none other than the Thana Garden.

Even though it was the last place he wanted to be, he had no choice. Facing the source of his broken heart was probably better than dealing with the group of fierce goddesses. Woohyun shuddered at the thought of being caught by them.

*This place should be safe, right? No one would think that a God of Light would be in such a depressing place. Of course, I’m a genius!* Woohyun smirked as he praised himself mentally.

However, the smirk disappeared in an instant when he felt a foot stomp down next to his precious face. It happened so fast that he froze in shock. His eyes widened, but his vision was pitch black. It turned out that there was some sort of dark fabric hovering over his face. As Woohyun was about to remove whatever was on his face, a familiar feeling suddenly arose.

*It can’t be…* The god froze again.

“Huh? Woohyun? What are you doing here?” a familiar voice said from above. Woohyun’s vision slowly returned as Sunggyu stepped aside, pulling off the coat that was hovering over the other’s face.

Woohyun blinked a few times, still trying to comprehend the situation.

“Hello? Woohyun!” Sunggyu waved his hand above Woohyun’s face, trying to get a response out of the latter. Staring at the shocked man lying on the tree branch, he wondered why he was exactly where he himself usually sat.

“Huh? Oh, Darky.” Woohyun finally came back to reality. He quickly put on a smile and called out to Sunggyu.

“Darkyyyyyyy~” Woohyun cooed with an exaggeratedly cute, hurt expression. “Did you want to kill me by stepping on my face?”

Sunggyu snorted at the contrast between expression and words. “No.”

“Really?” Woohyun squinted his eyes suspiciously.

“Really.”

Seeing the cold, stoic face, Woohyun immediately gave up on being a drama queen and rolled over to the side, giving Sunggyu some space next to him. The latter gladly sat down next to the reclining Woohyun.

Silence soon took over them. Woohyun secretly stole glances at Sunggyu. He had expected the man to shoo him away or leave, but it seemed like the man didn’t mind his presence anymore. The silence between them was so suffocating that Woohyun would have left immediately if it wasn’t for the fact that he had nowhere else to hide. Uncomfortable with the solemn atmosphere, Woohyun mustered his courage to speak up.

“Where is Jieun?” Woohyun asked half-cautiously, half-nonchalantly.

“She had business to attend to,” Sunggyu replied shortly.

“I see…”

With that, the conversation died again.

“Why are you here?” Sunggyu asked, surprising Woohyun by actually initiating the conversation.

“This and that happened. I needed a place to hide. Why?” Suddenly, something clicked in Woohyun’s head and sadness took over his face.

“Ah— I forgot. This is your place. Of course, you’re uncomfortable that the person you hate is here.” Woohyun quickly got up from his spot. “Don’t worry. I’ll leave—”

Much to his surprise, Sunggyu grabbed his wrist before he could move. A part of him hoped that perhaps Sunggyu didn’t want him to leave while the other part said otherwise. The image of Sunggyu being furious only crushed his tiny hopes further.

“What?” Woohyun turned back to the man, not daring to expect much.

The words were stuck in Sunggyu’s throat. Out of reflex, he had grabbed hold of Woohyun, but all he could do was stare at the latter. There were many things he wanted to ask Woohyun. For example, what had happened to him during the battle? Why was he spacing out? There were so many things to say, but the words he wanted to tell the other the most were…

‘I don’t hate you.’

Staring into Woohyun’s eyes, Sunggyu slowly parted his lips and uttered the words one by one at a slow pace.

“I… I don’t—”

“Hey, are you sure he’s here?” a feminine voice suddenly asked, taking the two Gods by surprise.

“Where else could he be?”

“But this place is so gloomy. I don’t think Woohyunnie would be here.”

“It doesn’t hurt to check.”

“Let’s do this quickly. I don’t like it here.”

A group of four goddesses could be heard chatting as they appeared on the ground below, not far from the Banyan tree. Woohyun frowned at the sight of them, devastated that he had lost his last hiding place. Heaving a heavy sigh, he shook off Sunggyu’s grip.

“I need to go. They are going to find me if I stay.” Woohyun turned around sharply, attempting to teleport elsewhere. Yet instead of jumping into the dimension hole he had just opened, he found himself falling backwards onto his .

“Oww!” Woohyun yelped in surprise. “Yah! Why did you pull me—? Huh? Where did that bastard go?” Instead of Sunggyu, in front of him was an empty space with a faint remaining of purple black smoke. It appeared that Sunggyu had already teleported elsewhere.

“Kyaaaaaa!” Woohyun jumped, hearing a shriek come from where the group of goddesses had been earlier.

*Why are they screaming? No way… Did he…?*

And he was right.

“What business do you have here?” Sunggyu asked in a cold voice with his infamous deadly face as he appeared from behind.

The goddesses turned pale upon his appearance and overwhelming aura. Shaking with fear, they stuttered in reply, “W-we’re looking for… t-t-the God of Light…”

“The God of Light?” Sunggyu responded with a poker face, trying his best to lie. “Why would he be here?” While he could maintain the cold poker face, the honest guy was not able to control his voice as it changed its tone habitually.  

“We have searched everywhere a-and we thought maybe… maybe he would be here…” Sunggyu only stared at them in return. Silence was his answer.

While the goddesses thought he was furious beyond words because of their intrusion, in reality, he was just afraid that, should he speak any more than was necessary, his tone of voice would give away the little lie he was trying to protect. Luckily, no one but Jieun could tell when Sunggyu was lying (the other goddesses simply didn’t spend enough time with the God of Darkness to know that his tone of voice changed whenever he lied).

The God of Darkness was simply staring at them, but that alone was more than enough to scare the goddesses. Despite the fact that he could not kill them, for he was not their opposition, his aura was overwhelmingly dark. Furthermore, there were rumours about him being a deadly killer all over Paradise. It was no surprise that the goddesses immediately decided to flee.

“Well… since you are here, I doubt Woohyun oppa is here. L-let’s go girls.” One of them, speaking up with much courage, hinted at the others that they should leave.

“A-ah, yeah! A-alright, we will take our leave now… Excuse us!”

With that, they quickly disappeared into thin air. Only then did Sunggyu relax his facial expression and heave a sigh. He turned around and looked towards the Banyan tree. His lips curved up slightly at the knowledge that he was still there waiting for him.

“Did they leave? Why is it so quiet? What the heck did he do?” Woohyun stretched his neck out, trying to see what was happening, but the tall trees and foggy air were getting in the way of his sight.

“Wait a minute. He didn't kill them, did he?” Woohyun gasped at the sudden thought.

“No, I did not,” Sunggyu answered as he appeared behind him.

“Holy—! Can you not appear behind me like that?! Damn it. You scared the hell out of me,” Woohyun panted after screaming.

Sunggyu chuckled and settled down behind the dramatic guy. He heaved a sigh as he made himself comfortable against the tree.

“You don’t have to worry about them. They left.”

*More like you forced them to leave,* Woohyun thought, remembering the time when Sunggyu had exploded with anger. Nevertheless, he was happy that the other would do that for him.

“…Thank you,” the God of Light mumbled softly.

“Sure. Now tell me why you’re hiding here,” Sunggyu said, still curious as to why Woohyun was being chased.

Woohyun obediently told the other his “miserable” story, a tragic consequence of being a genius like him, or so he claimed. Simply telling the story wasn’t Woohyun’s style, however. With every word he spoke, his expressions changed and so did his body language as he wholeheartedly used his entire body to demonstrate every detail.

“Alas… this unrivalled, heavenly handsome god has nowhere else to go but the dark and gloomy Thana garden, one that is the complete opposite of his bright and kind self.” Woohyun adopted a dramatic pose in which he hugged himself like he was some sacred object.

“But still he couldn’t escape from the ladies’ grasps! Oh, what else can he blame but his own popularity? How tragic indeed!” Woohyun shed a fake teardrop to show his remorse, bringing the story to an end. He waited for a response, but receive dead silence instead.

“Ya! I just told you a brilliant story. Can’t you clap?” he fumed with anger.

“HAHAHA! Is that it? So you’re saying this heavenly genius god is you?” Sunggyu suddenly burst out laughing so hard that Woohyun almost felt insulted.

“What? You have a problem with that?” he scowled.

“No. You actually know yourself pretty well. Even the narcissistic personality was perfectly depicted.” Sunggyu pointed out as his laugh died down.

“Of course— Wait, did you say narcissistic? How dare you! It’s self-confidence! SELF. CON.FI.DENCE!” Woohyun retorted.

“Yes, yes. Self-confidence.” Sunggyu smiled.

“Hmph!” Woohyun crossed his arms across his chest angrily, but the anger soon disappeared when the realization hit him. Sunggyu had smiled at him. Not only that, he had even laughed!

“Wait a minute… did you just laugh?” Woohyun asked in disbelief.

“No, I cried,” Sunggyu deadpanned at him. Seeing that Woohyun just sat there staring at him, Sunggyu decided to tell the truth. “Well… I laughed four minutes and thirty-eight seconds ago.”

Again, Woohyun just stared at him in silence. Feeling uncomfortable, Sunggyu demanded, “Yah! Why are you staring at me?”

“Huh? Well… It’s just that… It has been a really long time since you last laughed with me. I didn’t want to miss any moment of it, so I was burning it into my memory,” Woohyun nonchalantly answered. His words were cheesy and sounded like a joke, but his serious and somewhat solemn expression said otherwise.

“Who knows when the next time I get to see you laugh will be...” His voice sounded sad as he mumbled the next few words. “Since you hate me,” Woohyun ended with a sad smile.

Something tugged at Sunggyu’s heart when he heard those words coming from Woohyun. Seeing his fake smile made Sunggyu feel guilty for not making up with Woohyun sooner. Without further delay, Sunggyu decided to say the words that had been stuck in his throat earlier.

“Yah Woohyun,” he called, and successfully got the other’s attention. Staring into his eyes, Sunggyu continued in a quiet voice, “I-I don’t really hate you…”

Woohyun’s eyes widened. He turned towards Sunggyu with his mouth open in shock. “Huh? What did you say?”

“I said, I don’t hate you.”

“Excuse me? I can’t hear you.”

“I said—” Sunggyu stared at the latter in annoyance, knowing that Woohyun was doing it on purpose. “Whatever.”

“NO! STOP RIGHT THERE!” Woohyun shouted and started smirking. “Aigoo~ Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“Well… it’s not easy to say.” Sunggyu was surprised at the other’s sudden change of attitude.

“I understand. It must be hard to confess to someone as cool as me. It’s okay. I totally understand.”

“Wait, what?”

“What? Ah, don’t worry. I don’t swing that way, but I don’t mind. I love you too, as a friend though.”

“Who loves who?” Sunggyu asked in bewilderment.

“Oh, come on. Don’t be shy,” Woohyun smirked. “I heard you say it twice. ‘I love you so—’ ”

“I SAID I DON’T HATE YOU, YOU FREAKING—”

“DON’T KILL ME! HELP! JIEUNNNN!”

As the two Gods fought one another “playfully”, Woohyun’s heart felt as if it was finally able to breathe in fresh air. He put up an act because he would rather die than let the other know just how much those words meant to him. They weren't the magical three words, but they were more than enough for him for now.

‘I don’t hate you’ might have been meaningless to others, but to Woohyun, it was his first step to winning Sunggyu’s heart.

↭↭↭↭↭↭↭↭

“Oi Nyx, sorry I’m late.”

“It’s okay. Here, have a sip.”

“Mmm. Wonderful tea as usual.”

“You’re just flattering me Aether,” Nyx laughed shyly.

“You know that's not true.” Aether put down the teacup decorated with girly frills and scanned their surroundings.

They were sitting at a small table, befitting of their size, inside a gazebo. The gazebo was made purely of metals and had no rooftop, like a majestic birdcage. Since it never rained, there was no need for a roof. Like its name, it was always spring here in the Spring Garden. The garden was a very popular place for female fairies since it was always sunny, not enough to harm their delicate skin. Everywhere in sight, flowers and butterflies filled the air. There was also a large pond filled with lotus flowers and dragonflies hovering overhead. In the centre of the pond lay the gazebo where Aether and Nyz were sitting.

Aether, being the manly Guidance Fairy that he was, had never before stepped foot into this “girly” place, or so he claimed. After having a quick look around the area, he chuckled as he stared at the cute pink tea set and the frilly white cloth covering the table.

“You know, you should change your element or something.”

“Huh?” Nyx looked at him in surprise.

“You are the Guidance Fairy of Darkness, and look at your tea set,” he said, pointing at the pink cup in front of him. “How can a lady of darkness own such a girly thing?”

Aether picked up the cup and finished the rest of his tea in one shot. “Not that I mind, since your tea is good as usual.”

Nyx giggled. “Your taste buds are as bad as usual too. You’re the only one who can drink my tea, not to mention praise it.”

Nyx’s special way of mixing tea often ended up poisoning other guidance fairies; thus, many ran away when she offered her tea. Aether was the only one capable of drinking her tea. Strangely enough, he found it delicious and was somewhat addicted to it. Like fairy, like god, said The Great. After all, Woohyun was one heck of a strange God himself.

“Excuse you, I have excellent taste. Now, for what reason have you summoned me, the iest fairy in Fairydise?” Aether posed in the most “y” way he possible could.

Nyx laughed at the sight. “It’s not ‘Fairydise’, it’s Mirasolum,” she corrected him.

“Oh come on. Look how cool ‘Paradise’ and ‘Earth’ sound, and then compare that to our world. 'Mirasolum'. That sounds like a Gollum, for heaven's sake. If I was The Great, I would call it ‘Fairydise’.” Aether dramatically called out the new name he had made up for his world.

“What is this ‘Gollum’ you speak of?” Nyx asked, wondering about the strange name.

“Oh. It’s a strange creature I saw when I went down to Earth. It looks really cute. I wanted to go into this tiny box where they showed this creature moving, but a bunch of humans stopped me from entering. They said I was too young to watch the Lord of the… Necklace?  Well, whatever the name is. Anyway, it’s really cute. Wait a minute… there!” Aether spread out his hand and projected an image of Gollum from Lord of the Rings.

Nyx froze, staring at the strange creature intensely.

“What do you think? Cute, right?” Aether smiled proudly.

Nyx tilted her head and mumbled, “I’m not exactly sure if ‘cute’ is the right word to describe this pitiful looking creature…”

Aether frowned and shut off the projector. “It’s not pitiful! Anyway, let’s get back on topic.”

Biting her lip, Nyx looked away into the distance. She seemed to be anxious about what she was about to say. After a long moment of silence and hesitation, Aether, fed up, finally spoke.

“Okay, what’s the deal?! Are you going to confess to me? Hurry up and say it so I can reply!”

Nyx rolled her eyes at the impatient man. “I am confessing to you, but not what you’re thinking.”

“Then what?” Aether tapped his feet repeatedly, emphasizing his impatience.

“Did the previous God of Light, Kibum-ssi, say anything about Woohyun and Sunggyu?” Nyx carefully asked.

Aether instantly stilled at the question, his face hardening. Seeing this, Nyx immediately knew the answer.

“I see. So he has.”

“Of course he has. Why do you want to know?”

“I’m a bit worried, since it seems like they have come into contact with one another.”

“I know that already. That idiot, I always told him to stay away from his opposition.” Aether clicked his tongue.

“I called you here because I thought that since you’re involved as well, we should go together,” Nyx explained.

“To where?”

“To see the Goddess of Fate.”  

⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰

Hey guys, I'm still alive (though barely) and back with 4100's words chapter! Finally, Darky and Lighty made up with one another. There is some progress between Woogyu now :3

What do you think about Nyx and Aether interaction here? They are pretty cute aye? I've also included a few facts behind their name below :P 

SPOILER: The next chapters are going to be awesome with lots information of t he past. We're entering the semi- guys!! WOO-HOO~ 

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LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS OR ASK ME ANYTHING IN THE COMMENTS BELOW.

P.s/ Nyx and Aether above are NOT the same as Nyx and Aether in my story. They are Greek Gods, in my story, they are Guidance Fairies. I used their name 'cause I thought it sound cool plus they have the same "element" haha.