Part 3: Chapter 24

The mountain temple had been empty.  It had been a nasty surprise to find such a magnificent and vital structure in such disrepair, but it had been even more of a surprise to find that no one was there.  Legends told that the temples were living, breathing structures.  They thrived only when filled with people, with life.  History told that the temples were points of power, crossroads and meeting places for the mighty leaders of a society that was forced to run in the dark when they should have been ruling in the light of the sun. 

It was his destiny to correct that oversight.  To ensure that the next generation of his people weren't confined to the shadows.  He was going to create a new society, better than legends told.  And the temples were going to help him do it. 

The temple wasn’t the reason he had come to this city, but that’s where he had thought to find her. 

His queen.

But instead, he had found the temple abandoned.  The only source of life for miles around, was the small traditional house at the base of the mountain.  But even that he found empty.  With a snarl, he gazed around the shadowed room.  Looking at the bookshelves filled with books, scrolls and knickknacks, he had a vicious urge to toss everything to the ground, but he controlled himself.  He calmly picked up a book off the low table and flipped through it, proving to himself that he was in control.  The book fell open on its own, revealing envelopes that had been slipped between its pages. 

He picked up the one on the top, and in the dim light of the room, he called on his wolf to sharpen his eyesight and his eyes glowed red.  An image had been painted on the envelope with a calligraphy brush, three sides of a triangle enclosed a circle with a swirling center.  His eyes, red with the onset of his wolf, widened.

Quickly, he put the envelope back and flipped through the others in the book until he found the one he wanted.  Holding it up, he turned it over, rotating his wrist and revealing the image on his skin. 

The mark on the back of his right hand was a dragon. 

“I don’t know what to do with that,” Kai said and shook his head.

 “Your dreams show Kai and me leading a society of people like us?”  Luhan asked Sohee with a lifted brow.  “We have enough problems right now just with the masks.  How are we supposed to lead a whole society?”

Sohee smiled.  “You guys will figure it out.  And it’s not like it’s going to happen tomorrow.  We have time before the solar eclipse.”

“That’s what the Old Man said,” Luhan remembered.  “He told me not to concentrate on it because the event isn’t nearly as important as the choices we make before it happens.”

“Yay,” Kai said with a roll of his eyes.  “More riddles.  If it’s not happening for a while, I’d rather concentrate on what is happening right now.  We need to do something about this guy who attacked Ryehyun and his friends.”

Luhan looked at him sharply and then looked away.

“Any ideas who it may be?” Sohee asked Kai.

Kai was silent for a moment.  “On New Year’s Eve, when me, Tao and Xiumin wen