6 // Apprentice

 

 

"I think you know what we want, Bang Yongguk."

 

Kai smirked at the deep-voiced weaponsmith, whose jaw tightened on hearing those words. His glare became even more intense.

 

"Leave," his voice growled. "It's not going to happen."

 

Without another word, Yongguk turned his back on the two men confronting him. The silence that followed was interrupted by the piercing sound of something shattering.

 

Baekhyun, angered by Yongguk's response, had whipped out his chain weaponry and destroyed the water urn by Yongguk's feet with the end of the chain bearing a spiked mace. With an insulted look, he held up his arm holding the blade end of the chain and aimed it at the weaponsmith's back.

 

Yongguk's feet were now drenched in the puddle of water that had escaped from the shattered urn as he slowly turned around to face the offender.

 

"Is that the way you want it to be?" he asked in a low, dangerous voice.

 

Yumi held her breath as she felt the atmosphere starting to take a turn for the worse. Next to her, both AeMi and Youngjae were observing the situation seriously.

 

Kai drew his long blade with a cocky expression. "It's all up to you and what you choose to do. We're just doing what we need to do."

 

He and Baekhyun readied their weapons for attack as they spread themselves around him to block off any passages for escape. Yongguk smirked as hatred flamed within his eyes.

 

"All you KangRang pawns know how to do is to use force and violence to get what you want. Pathetic."

 

Kai and Baekhyun both scowled at the remark before they charged at him with a yell.

 

Daehyun jumped off of his horse and prepared to interfere with the fight, but was stopped by a fourth voice suddenly calling out.

 

"Hyungnim!"

 

The door of the hut swung open hazardously to reveal a tall, black-haired teenage boy with two weapons in his hands. He quickly threw the double-edged straight sword over to Yongguk, who caught it by its red handle and managed to block Kai's attack in time. The boy blocked off Baekhyun's attack with a similar weapon of his own, a chain-scythe.

 

Yumi noticed that the weaponsmith's sword was identical to the one that she had seen in her vision. But what caused her breath to hitch in was the sight of the boy's face.

 

She knew him.

 

Unknowingly, tears sprung in her eyes as she slowly stuttered out his name.

 

"J-J…. J-Junhong…?"

 

The siblings whipped their heads around to gawk at her. "Junhong? You mean your brother?!"

 

The weaponsmith was at a more advantageous position now that he was no longer outnumbered, but he expressed his reluctance for the boy to be joining him in battle.

 

"Get back inside," he ordered.

 

The boy refused to budge and locked on with Baekhyun as his opponent. "Hyungnim, you're outnumbered."

 

"It doesn't matter, I can handle this."

 

He stubbornly remained on the spot.

 

"Zelo!" Yongguk yelled in exasperation.

 

Yumi stared at them with both shock and confusion. *Zelo?*

 

The two KangRang soldiers took advantage of this brief internal conflict and continued their assault. Now that Junhong/Zelo was engaged in the battle, it was too late for him to escape. But it was obvious that Baekhyun was the stronger of the two, having undergone training to become a soldier. Yongguk could not concentrate wholly on his fight with Kai, as his attention kept getting drawn back to the young boy beside him who was at a serious disadvantage.

 

Zelo could not block the swift movement of the mace as it struck him in the stomach, causing him to double-over in pain as he clutched the injured part of his body.

 

"Junhong!" Yumi shrieked in horror, instantly leaping out of the carriage and running towards him.

 

Daehyun quickly went after her. "Yumi, stop!"

 

Kai was a skilled soldier in combat and didn't give Yongguk any opportunities to go to the boy's aid. This left him vulnerable to any of Baekhyun's attacks. Yumi ran towards him desperately as the soldier prepared himself to land the final blow.

 

Realising that she would not make it in time, she stopped to shoot an arrow with her bow, watching as it sailed through the air and effectively knocked the blade of the chain off-course, startling every person on the scene. They turned to the side to see that it was a girl who had stopped their attack.

 

Baekhyun scowled. "We have no business with you, girl. So stay out of it if you don't want to get hurt."

 

Unfazed by his words, Yumi drew back another arrow. "Leave them alone."

 

"I don't take orders from you."

 

"Leave the kid be," Kai cut in. "We only need to take Bang Yongguk with us."

 

Yongguk went over to Zelo's side. "I'm not going anywhere."

 

"We've been courteous enough already as it is," Kai replied as he narrowed his eyes at him. "Follow us back to KangRang, and then nobody else needs to gets hurt."

 

"I left that country for a reason," Yongguk spat. "Find someone else to make your damned weapons. I'm not going back."

 

Baekhyun forcefully grabbed a firetorch from a nearby villager.

 

"Then watch your house burn to the ground with your father inside."

 

Yongguk watched helplessly as Baekhyun torched the hut on fire without even a moment's hesitation.

 

"Father!"

 

He scrambled to try and put out the fire, but was cut off by a blow to the back of his head by Kai, who then held him to the ground.

 

Zelo tried attacking him in vain as Baekhyun quickly subdued him as well.

 

With a scream, Yumi released the arrow that she had drawn for the entire time before she charged towards the blazing hut. Kai released his hold on Yongguk to reflect the arrow with his long blade, allowing the weaponsmith to swiftly get up to punch him across the face. Daehyun also jumped in to help Zelo from Baekhyun's grasp.

 

Yumi eyed the patch of snow accumulating by the hut and pinched her eyes closed, praying for her abilities to not fail her now. As if on cue, she felt a surge of power erupt within her body and spread towards her fingertips as she swung her arms into the air, successfully lifting the patch of snow above the roof while turning it into water.

 

Every soul nearby watched with wide, round eyes as she swung her arms down the next second, sending the wave of water down onto the flames, effectively putting it out.

 

A few moments of silence were followed by the dismayed gasps, screams and murmurs of all of the villagers. The two KangRang soldiers remained frozen on their feet as they tried to absorb everything that had just happened. They shot Yumi pointed looks.

 

"Who are you?!" Baekhyun demanded.

 

Yumi glared at him. "I don't feel the need to tell you."

 

A male villager cautiously inched closer towards her as he eyed her forehead. He pointed a shaky finger towards her.

 

"That symbol!" he gasped. "It's the symbol of water! The symbol of a Guardian!"

 

"She's the Guardian of Water!" a woman shrieked. "The rumours are true! The Guardian of Water has returned!"

 

The shocked and fearful villagers now buzzed with excitement as they crowded around to get a glimpse of the alleged Guardian. One villager bowed down on his knees saying "Long live the Guardians!", and soon all of the villagers had followed suit.

 

Yumi glacned around in astonishment, feeling flustered with their actions.

 

Amongst all of the commotion, she had forgotten about the KangRang soldiers. They sent each other signals with their hands before stealthily fleeing the village to return to their country.

 

*Our original mission can wait* Kai thought as the two of them leapt across the snow. *Informing the capital of the Guardian's reappearance is more important.*

 

Yumi caught sight of the injured Zelo and hastily went over to his side anxiously.

 

"Junhong! Are you okay? Noona's been so worried about you! How did you get here? When did you get here?"

 

She continued bombarding him with questions as the young boy blinked at her in bewilderment, the pain in his stomach forgotten with this newly strange encounter.

 

"What have you been doing for all of this time? You didn't get hurt anywhere else, did you?!"

 

Yumi quickly pulled him into a hug.

 

"It's okay! Noona's here! We'll figure out a way to get us back home!"

 

Zelo wriggled away from her hug with a red face. "I-I'm not this Junhong you speak of! I'm Zelo! You've got the wrong person!"

 

She stopped and stared at him.

 

"You're not... Junhong?"

 

He shook his head.

 

Yumi scanned his facial features before whispering, "But you look exactly like my little brother…" Realising what she had just done to someone who was actually a stranger, she quickly got up and dabbed at the tears that threatened to fall. "I-I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else."

 

"I-It's okay," Zelo replied weakly.

 

Daehyun went to her side and patted her back comfortingly. She sent him a light, grateful smile.

 

"Bang Yongguk!" came Youngjae's voice. He was walking towards them whilst AeMi was leading the horses.

 

The weaponsmith stared at him with recognition. "Yoo Youngjae, is it?"

 

He nodded. "There's something I need to talk to you about." He glanced around at the curious villagers who were still staring at them. "Something important."

 

Yongguk seemed to understand the gravity of the conversation and nodded. "Please come into my home."

 

 

~~~

 

 

"What is it that you needed to talk to me about?" Yongguk asked. He had just returned from his father's room after making sure that he was unharmed.

 

The six of them were all crowded around a single table, sipping on a cup of hot tea that Zelo had poured for them. Youngjae placed his sword on the table.

 

"This sword was one that you forged for me, isn't that right?" Youngjae asked.

 

Yongguk nodded. "It was from about two years ago, if I remember correctly."

 

"And you have heard of the four Guardians of this land, haven't you?" Youngjae continued. He gestured towards Yumi. "Yumi here is the Guardian of Water."

 

All eyes landed on her, causing her face to flush at the sudden attention.

 

Youngjae's eyes went back down to the sword. "Yumi touched this sword and got a vision related to the Guardian of Fire."

 

Both the weaponsmith and his apprentice -- Zelo -- looked at him with wide eyes. Their attention shifted towards Yumi.

 

"What did you see?"

 

"Weapons," she replied. "Rows and rows of weapons, blazes of red, orange and yellow, a red jewel, and…"

 

Her eyes landed on the weapon hung up on the wall. It was the sword that Yongguk had used just before.

 

"… a straight double-edged sword with a red handle. Just like yours."

 

Yongguk turned his head to the side to glance at the sword. "You saw my sword in your vision?"

 

Yumi nodded. He looked back at Youngjae.

 

"What does it mean?"

 

"It means that you might have something to do with the Guardian of Fire." Youngjae paused, before adding, "Or you might even be the Guardian of Fire, Yongguk."

 

The biggest reaction came from Zelo, as he gaped at the man seated beside him who was, surprisingly, straight-faced and shock-free at the allegation.

 

"That's impossible," he declared, erupting confusion within the room with his definite answer. "The Guardians have to be from this land."

 

Daehyun furrowed his brow. "But aren't you?"

 

Yongguk shook his head dismally. "I'm actually from KangRang. I used to make weaponry for that wretched country, but their thirst for war and power disgusted me, so I left." He heaved an irritated breath. "And that's why those KangRang soldiers have been searching for me."

 

"Then it can't be Yongguk," AeMi sighed in disappointment. "But do you have any idea who it might be? This person must still have something to do with you, according to Yumi's vision."

 

The room became silent as everyone pondered over this question. It wasn't long before one and only one answer came to mind. The whole room turned towards Zelo, who glanced back in them in perplex.

 

"…Why are you all looking at me like that?"

 

His eyes scanned the room -- widening when he finally realised what they were hinting at. He pointed at himself in disbelief.

 

"You can't possibly think that I…"

 

Zelo's voice trailed off as Yongguk nodded.

 

 

"You could very well possibly be the Guardian of Fire."

 

 

 

 

 

---

 

Even if I know how the story is gonna go, writing it is still difficult haha. Hopefully you all liked this chapter!

And can you believe it? Junhong's look-alike, Zelo, could possibly be the Guardian of Fire and not Yongguk!

What is this!!! (I am very well aware that I was the one who wrote this story) :P

 

Welcome new subscribers and thank you all for reading!

--- Mistlea