Short update :)

 

Everything was spinning, forcing Hyukjae to shut his eyes tightly and grit his teeth as he lost all sense of gravity. It felt like he was falling, but upwards instead of going down. A weird sensation appeared in the pit of his stomach, and his heartbeats sped up as he felt himself falling fast and sharp.
The travel only lasted for a few seconds before Hyukjae’s body crashed with a loud thud on a hard and dusty surface. He released a short cry of pain when his right wing took all the weight of his body and got crushed between him and the ground.

He took a deep breath, but then coughed violently as some dust invaded his mouth and throat. He managed to crack an eye open but his vision was a little blurry. He shook his head, feeling hazy and disoriented by the harsh collision. His body ached, especially his crushed wing and his ribs, which had been wounded during a fight with a demon on the battlefield.

He grimaced in pain and hissed as he pushed himself up on his elbow, and then managed to get back on his feet. He stumbled, trying to find back his balance without moving his hurt wing too much.

A glance around and he knew he wasn’t home anymore. The sky was bright blue and the sun not yet at its zenith. The mountains were gone, the rocks and stones nowhere to be seen. The ground instead was dry and grey, like cold ashes. He could see some woods a little further, but nothing more. The land was flat and the place deserted.

A move behind him suddenly reminded him that he wasn’t alone.
He swiftly spun around, biting back a hiss of pain when his sore body moved, and faced the demon.

Donghae was staring at him intently, his eyes almost boring holes into Hyukjae’s soul. His face showed no emotion, though his jaw seemed slightly clenched, yet his body language was different, tense and rigid. Hyukjae could tell the devil wasn’t very pleased.

“You’ve cast a spell on the passage”, Donghae uttered, voice flat.

A smirk tugged on the corner of Hyukjae’s lips. “We did”, he replied, raising his eyebrows provocatively.

Donghae took a sudden step forward, and Hyukjae’s body instinctively went to a defensive posture, preparing itself for fighting. But then the demon stopped his tracks and didn’t get closer. Instead, he inhaled deeply and averted his eyes to the sky, looking like he was trying to calm down.

Hyukjae pulled on his best poker face as he realized that, indeed, the spell had been cast. He had forgotten about it, too caught in the moment and blinded by his anger, refusing to let Donghae win and cross the Gate so easily. But now, he could feel it in every cell of his body, running through his blood, invading every inch of his being, from his toes to his hair, even to the tip of his feathers.
He was just surprised that they weren’t dead yet.

A deep sigh from Donghae snapped him out of his thoughts. His smirk grew wider, feeling victorious and content at the vision of the disappointed demon. He was going to die, unfortunately, but at least he had the satisfaction of knowing the devil had lost.

“No immortals can use the passage anymore”, he said, half smiling to the demon. “No immortals will ever be able to pass the Gate without activating the spell. We’re both going to die here.”

“Indeed”, Donghae uttered, looking back at Hyukjae. “We will.”

The angel frowned as he met the demon’s gaze. Instead of the wrath and anger he expected to find in the expressive brown orbs, the devil’s eyes reflected nothing but a mixture of disappointment and deep sorrow.

Hyukjae was surprised, slightly startled, to see Donghae remaining so calm and quiet. Demons never reacted this way. A normal demon would have already tried to attack him, he would have roared spiteful words and insults in his fury. A normal demon would have gone crazy with rage and pure hatred.
Why wasn’t that one mad?

“But the spell is still fresh”, Donghae then stated, tilting his head to the side as he kept staring at Hyukjae. “It’s been made barely a few hours ago, I can sense it. A spell like this takes time to grow powerful and efficient. I can feel it’s already working on us but... It’ll make us weaker, it’ll kill us slowly, but we won’t die