We're finally at Onew's past! 

Onew was not always this form of a beast he is now seen to be. Once upon a time, Onew was just like Taemin and his master; like you and I – once upon a time, this golden scaled Dragon, was a mere human boy. Onew watched the young knight and his master seemingly arguing over something by the entrance of what he has made his home, and the Dragon recalls the days he used to argue with his parents. He still remembered as clear as day the last words he had heard as a human – that of a spell spoken firmly:

To live a life a hundred fold that of a human, to be majestic and indestructible is his wish.

For the people to glorify this being to be that of Gods, to reign over those people is his ambition.

To be viewed in a bright light, to be feared even by the greatest of Knights is his aspiration.

Should there be a change of heart, he must prove to be the exact opposite of these very desires.

Sacrifices must be made for spells to be broken,

As what is created by one can only be reversed by the same amount of passion.

He was only 26 when the spell was cast upon him, a raring Knight-in-training just like Taemin was. It has been a long and tireless 425 years since that fateful day. When the spell had been requested, formulated and casted upon him, he would have never imagined that it would turn his entire self into a separate being all together. The wizard who made use of the vague words of request, had the audacity to poke at his new golden scales, laughing at the softness of them before proclaiming, “It’s so soft, almost like tofu. From now on, the people will only know you as the Dragon Onew, and never the human Lee Jinki.”

The human, Lee Jinki, was the son of two of the greatest Knights – one was an expert warrior making use of the carefully sharpened rocks as weapons with skillful handling to match; the other was an expert strategist, making use of carefully planned tactics to win each battle. Together, the duo was a formidable force against anything that dared face them. As their only son, Jinki was surprisingly weak. Born with asthma and weak lungs, he lacked the stamina and physical strength his father took pride in.  His trust in people, pure-hearted belief that everyone was born nice, and the naiveness that truth would be always told, never failed in getting him into corners of tough situations.

Despite that, he wanted to meet his parents’ expectations of him. They were the best, and they wanted him to at least be someone of worth. Yet, no matter how hard he trained, no matter how hard he tried, he was never good enough. The young man found himself always getting reprimanded by his parents who took it as their duty to be his masters. Punished for his poor performance over and over again, Jinki felt worthless and weak. He spent days and nights practicing till he was breathless and shaky, but none of his efforts were recognized by the parents who only saw the best.

Everything in Jinki’s world fell apart when his parents took in their best student to be his brother.  Since the day his brother came into the family, it was almost as if Jinki was nonexistent. His parents had the best, and he was no longer needed. His parents had completely given up all hope on him ever becoming successful, and taken a new heir into their family of three – they had taken in a complete stranger just to replace the son they had deemed a failure. Eventually, Jinki was driven into such devastation that he decided he could only either give it his all, or resign to his sad fate. So it took one world-changing night where Jinki worked harder than he ever had before, where he ran around the field faster than he ever did before, where he tied rocks as weight on his ankles heavier than he ever ran with before. Unsurprisingly, his asthma kicked in and he out in the middle of the field without any supervision around him. As he fell, he thought it would be the end of him; but somehow, he was glad. No one would miss him anyway.

But he woke up.

He woke up in unfamiliar surroundings; with strangely shaped glass containers littering the place, each of them containing bubbling substance of vivid colors. Jinki sits up gingerly on the sheets he was positioned on, and only then did he take in the presence of another person in the room. That said person was humming a soft tune, busying themselves with mixing a large cauldron of something. Jinki couldn’t exactly tell if that person was a male or female.

“Um…” Jinki started unsurely, “E-excuse me…?”

“Good morning~” the stranger sing-songed in a high-pitched scratchy voice without bothering to turn around. Even with a distinguished voice, Jinki wasn’t sure of the stranger’s gender.

“Um… Wh-where is this? Wh-why am I here?” Jinki barely dared to ask in his timid voice.

“Why, you’re in my house of course!” the slouched figure replied cheerfully, as if it was the answer to all of Jinki’s confusion.

“How did I-… Who…” Jinki questioned, shifting in the bed he was placed in, trying in vain to catch a glimpse of the other’s face.

“Now, boy, don’t be asking ridiculous questions,” the owner scolded lightly. “There is no one who doesn’t know of Key, the wizard!”

Key… the wizard? Jinki pondered. So, it’s a male after all.

“What?” Key finally spun around in seeming alarm. “A male?!” the wizard screeched before taking in a deep breath of disbelief. “Male… Female… Those are mere pathetic terms by humans. It’s just Key – Key, the wizard,” Key announced proudly.

Now that Jinki had full view of Key’s face, he could see that Key was not at all what he had visualized. From the way the wizard spoke in such arrogance and confidence, added with that scratchy high-pitched voice, Jinki had imagined an older figure to face him, but the wizard before him had not one wrinkle upon their face. However, true to their ambiguous name and behavior, the wizard had flawlessly beautiful androgynous features. Putting his mind off that, Jinki had more important thoughts that alarmed him.

“Did- did you just… read my mind?” the human asked in a bare whisper, not believing that he was even asking such a ridiculous question. The wizard laughs at his question, and the sound makes Jinki cringe.

“Are you sure you are truly awake and not simply sleep talking? Listen to that blasphemy you’re sprouting. You must be absolutely out of your mind!” Key accused, making Jinki shrink back into the sheets of the bed.

“I-I’m sorry,” Jinki whimpered, lowing his head both guiltily and frightfully. He must have thought aloud then, Jinki concludes in his head.

“Listen here, kid. You’re only here because I was told that you have something you want that you’re willing to even give your own life for – not that I want your life. I could have taken it from the moment you were found in that barren field. Rather, I have a proposition for you,” Key paused. “I can grant you all your wishes with the only condition that you’d have to live with the results you have sought out for.”

Oh look at me, I finished this a few days back but never put it up in public. I found some typos and grammar errors while rereading the story so I'll probably go brush up on some of them keke. This chappie's ended rather abruptly but... truth is, there is no reason - I was just lazy to write so next chappie with continue with Onew's past!