“We’re almost there, probably only another few hours,” Kyungsoo said happily. They’d been traveling for many weeks now and it was beginning to annoying Kyungsoo. Typically, it did not take this long; however, he underestimated how much the added weight of 3 young adults would slow down the horses.

“Wah, really? Finally! It feels like we’ve been traveling forever!” Sehun said while flopping down on the caravan.

“Because we have,” Kai groaned. “I’m so sick of traveling already.”

“Well you asked to come,” Kyungsoo shrugged, “But maybe it’s too tiresome for you spoiled kids.”

Kai immediately sat up with a pout and looked around for something to throw at Kyungsoo. After a second, he found a small rock and tossed it towards Kyungsoo’s head earning a yelp from the older.

Kyungsoo turned around and glared at Kai while rubbing his head, “I should dump you right here and continue on without you.”

“As if you had the balls to do that,” Kai scoffed.

“Halt,” Kyungsoo said while pulling on the reins of the horses.

Kai’s eyes widened and he quickly began to stutter with a comical face, “Yah I- I didn’t mean that. I appreciate everything you’ve done so far. I- Um. I- I think you’re great and-”

Seulgi and Sehun giggled under their breaths while Kyungsoo smirked at Kai as he continued to stutter.

“That’s better,” Kyungsoo said coolly before making the horses continue once more.

Kai sighed in relief before plopping back down where he was before and closing his eyes. He couldn’t wait to get the cave Kyungsoo had mentioned to see the Cephalonian beasts for himself. Granted, there was a small part of him that didn’t believe Kyungsoo, but for the sake of an interesting trip, he hoped it was true.

The rest of the ride was silent, everyone just minded their own business and patiently waited to finally reach their destination.

The road they were taking appeared as if nothing more than abandoned road prints. The road was barely visible and deteriorated to the point of not actually looking like a road anymore. It was still dawn which had come quick and cold. The air was dry, so much that all of them could feel the skin on their lips beginning to crack.

Each person on the caravan was heading to the same place, but inside they were all in very different places, whether or not they were aware of it at the time.

Taeyeon, the shadow, tends to keep to herself. She chimes in on conversations every now and then and gives her unwanted opinion, but typically she’s noticed that no one really listens to her. Kyungsoo is seen as the authority despite Taeyeon technically being older, but she couldn’t really complain because he was a better merchant. Taeyeon made enough to survive, but without Kyungsoo she would definitely not have the equipment or capabilities to travel, so she let him have authority.

She was anticipating finally getting to see these supposed beasts in person. Old fables have described them as being magical and truly beautiful and she was sure they would not disappoint.

Kyungsoo, the natural leader, sat at the head of the caravan leading the built horses and wondering exactly what lay ahead. Somehow, he ended up with a kinda-but-not-really freeloader and 3 royal children from his home Kingdom. Without a doubt, if anyone connected to King Suho or Queen Irene discovered that he was helping the royal heirs instead of turning them in, he’d surely have a bounty on his head. While excited about their journey, and the prospect of getting to know them all, he would be lying if he said there wasn’t a sliver of fear deep-rooted into his brain. Kai, the strong one, had been spending most of his time worrying about what would happen if anything were to go awry. He was fairly confident in his ability to protect everyone here from basic thieves and the likes, but he couldn’t help but feel it was a lot of pressure. As far as he knew, he was the only one really trained in combat. Seulgi was getting better but was not at a point to where Kai could trust her to win any fight she encounters. Sehun was getting better as well, at least at defending himself. He was not great at offense, but Kai didn’t care. As long as he could stand his own. He had no clue on Kyungsoo and Taeyeon’s fighting ability but assumed they couldn’t because well…they look squishy.

Seulgi, the smart one, was thinking of ways to get out situations they’d inevitably get in. Such as getting rummaged by thieves, getting attacked by wild forest animals, and many more horrific things. Kyungsoo seemed nice but not particularly cunning, Kai was…well dumb but very strong. Sehun…bless him. She will just have to protect him. Taeyeon is someone Seulgi couldn’t read, she wasn’t su