CHAPTER FIVE

 

Cold beads of sweats trickled down Luhan’s temples like moist of cold water in a glass. His lungs felt heavy that it was too hard to accept air in his system. Even the slightest touch of the midnight breeze felt like a prick of icicles against the pores of his skin. The silence of the night buzzed in his ears, the crackles of the fire serves as the only disturbance from it. Even so, Luhan’s exhales and pants seemed to overpower the peace.

 

“Luhan, are you okay?”

“Yeah…” he nodded, despite of not looking back at his friend. Still dazed on the blank space between the grass and the soil on the ground, he trailed off, “Yeah… I’m fine…”

He didn’t move away when he felt his friend shuffled close to him, “Had a bad dream?” he asked him.

Taking a look at Chen, Luhan’s lips stretched slightly, “No…It’s not a bad dream…--I uh…” frowning, he looked back at the blazing embers, “I don’t even know what it was…”

“You look …petrified,” Chen pointed out.

He let out a soft exhale, mixed with a humourless laugh, “Maybe because I am…” he admitted. The silver haired man started picking on the grass, throwing them next to the dying bonfire. “I’m afraid of … what’s inside my head that I have yet to know… I’m afraid of the idea that… that it’s coming back to me now…”

 

Watching the elder’s odd antics, Chen propped his chin on his knees with his arms wrapped around his chin. “Shouldn’t you be… glad if they are coming back to you?” he asked, “because maybe things about yourself would be clear and you won’t be reaching out blindly in darkness like this…”

 Luhan knew deep inside him, what the younger said was true. The past is an essential part of his present. It wouldn’t leave a complete picture without the missing fragments in his head.

Maybe the missing memories back of his childhood would help him find himself.

But he couldn’t rely on vague dreams like this forever. He needed solid evidence, he needed someone.

All of his plans were put on hold.

Luhan decided that he should seek for the truth first before justice. “Chen, what if I chose to look for my missing pieces in this journey, would you still accompany me?” halting from picking the grass, the silver head turned to his friend, observed his lips curved into a perfect shape of bow,

“Why of course… tha shi tu shise…”

With this, Luhan chuckled and ruffled the younger’s locks.

 

“Why, aren’t you two adorable…” said a voice to their right, Yixing was up and was smiling at them pulling the pathetic excuse of a blanket over his delicate frame. “You’re teaching him Haavi…how sweet of you Luhan. But what does that mean?”

Chen chuckled and propped his chin on Luhan’s shoulders, grinning at the healer, “It means you are my brother…”

Yixing smiled under the sheet of fabric, “If I don’t know any better I’d believe that you two are real brothers…”

 

Luhan could have laughed by the comment, but his sharp hearing senses caught a distant sound, coming closer rather fast. He immediately took a jug of water and put out the fire, startling the two.

“Someone’s coming—pack our things…” Luhan whispered to them, Chen and Yixing immediately went to do their own tasks, while Luhan took his hood and hid himself, taking his bow and quiver with what was left of his iron arrows.

 

True to what Luhan expected, someone came out from the forest’s trails—only that they were five, not one. From their steel armour with a carved head of a cobra, Luhan knew that the four soldiers were from Zambria. They were holding an old man, his hands tied behind him, feet shackled together in a one foot distance, and his mouth was tied with rag cloth. His clothes resembled a priests’ robe, but they weren’t sure because he’s dirty and the clothes were tattered beyond recognition.

“What do we have here… campers?” one of the guards says. “Don’t you know that it’s forbidden to camp in this forest? You’ll have to pay for this violation unless you’d want to be imprisoned for maximum of three days and nights.”

“Wha—There’s no such law here in Eldama.” Chen protested.

“But there’s that law in Zambria, and Zambria holds power over Eldama for years now so it applies to the lands of this kingdom. Will you pay or not?”

“Aren’t you just abusing your power?” Yixing inwardly growled.

The guard’s eyes twitched before barking, “Fine if you don’t want to pay then you’re coming with us!”

 

Before the rest of the trailing guards could get a step closer, Luhan shielded his friends, drawstring pulled back with three iron arrows on point. “No one’s going to take my friends away, bastards.”

The leading guard lifted his chin up, eyes scrutinizing the hidden face under the hood.

“And who are you… little…” he glanced at the bow and arrow. “…archer?”

Luhan tilted his head, breathing the same air with a member of Salvatori ignites his fury. “Trust me…you wouldn’t want to know.”

“You’ve got some air in your head, kid. You think your iron arrows can do damage to us huh?” the guard mocked.

“Maybe not to your heavy armour, but it might if it passed your big mouth and your throat.”

 

Typical of big mouthed soldiers, they tend to lose temper often. The man wielded his sword and tried to attack him, however with only one flick of Luhan’s fingers, the first arrow passed through the man’s skull, next in his open mouth, then the third to his throat.

Taking another arrow before the first guard slumped on the ground, he shot one guard on his throat too, but the three remaining ones were able to get close. Yixing and Chen started fighting with them while Luhan went to the old man, untying him before going back to help his friends.

 

But he and Chen froze the moment they saw Yixing summoning the element of water through the atmosphere, condensing it from the air and clouds, before making globs of it around the soldiers head until they suffocate and die.

 

“What was that?” Chen asked in astonishment, looking bewildered at Yixing. The healer sighed and looked alternately between the two.

“Perks of being a wolf’s mate.”

Luhan pursed his lips, “Let me guess the source… Suho right?”

Chen shook his head when Yixing muttered a soft yes, “Wow I must catch a wolf myself then—“ Luhan glared at him and he just took it back. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding…”

 

When the old man made a soft noise, they remembered they weren’t alone. They went to him and helped him sit, the moon serving as their only source of light. “Are you okay? Do you want water?” Luhan asked, hovering a jug of water over the old man’s lips.

He sipped from it before his head was thrown back against the trunk of the tree. “T-Thank you… young men…”

“Why did they take you?” Yixing asked, “Where did you come from? Were you a priest?”

“Yes… Yes I am a priest of a shrine not so far from here… young lad…”

 

“We’ll take you there then,” Luhan declared, “Chen please untie Dia and we’ll him back to his shrine.”

“Right away!”

 

 

By the time the sun rises, they have reached a rundown shrine in the deeper part of the forest. Towering trees and canopied trail of cobbled stone paths were what welcomed Luhan, Yixing and Chen at the entrance of the said place. Fifty steps of stone were extruded from the slope of the ground, a convenient and safer way to get up to what was once a majestic gazebo, made of ivory with pillars surrounded with dead vines and dried leaves, pieces of large stones scattered on the ground.

As they observed, Chen found out that the large pieces of stone were parts of a statue while Yixing realized that the block of stone in the middle of the gazebo was the foundation of the statue.

 

“This was once a very beautiful place…” said the old man, taking small steps closer to the gazebo.  “These vines were as alive as the blankets of leaves that covered the sacred path to this place…”

He crouched before the huge block of stone, pushing the dried leaves that covered the ivory over time.

 

Luhan went closer, eyes tracing the shapes of claws and paws carved on the stone.

“When I was just a boy, my father always takes me here. He was a farmer, he told me that offering our harvest to him would be a simple thank you and it would mean a lot to the one who helped us to grow our crops. But my mother would scold him saying, we’re just wasting a portion of our food to some make believe guardian that existed only in myths” chuckling, he said as Chen handed one of the stones on the ground.

 

That piece fits perfectly on the paws on the block of stone, now that it was placed on its rightful place; they realized that the piece of stone was a cracked leg of a statue…

A statue of an animal standing on four legs.

 

 

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Yixing asked, eyes not leaving the shattered figurine, “Who is this…him, you are talking about?”

“Ah,” The old man closed his eyes with a genuine smile. “Young people these days, I pity you for not being able to know about them.”

“Know who?” Chen frowned, confused.

“ The Immortal Wolves,” the old man said, chuckling. “And the one I am talking about is The Wolf of the Pillar Earth.”

“Wolf of the Pillar Earth…” Luhan muttered, watching the old man putting the other pieces together, surprised that the pieces weren’t falling and it seemed like they were mending, gluing themselves to each other until the old man finished it.

 

 

No words could describe how enthralling the figurine was—an ivory image of a four feet wolf, tail dragging behind it. Pointy tears and large snout, just like any other wolf. But what made it stand out was that its eyes were made of blazing topaz.

 

The old man swept the remaining dried leaves, helped by Chen and Luhan who was now crouching beside the old man. By the time that the foundation was cleared, Chen gasped as he read the letters engraved on the stone, Kai, and under the name was, Wolf of Pillar Earth.

Stepping back, the four men stared back at the eyes of the wolf, glowing against the silhouette that the body made from the young rays of light from the horizon.

 

“For twenty years I’ve tried my best to find an old friend, he was held captive by the Nazaeles and I had no idea where they took him… Not until two days ago. I found him near the capital of Nazael, inside a very deep manhole…but there were Nazaeles there, they took me and handed me to the Zambrians…I was about to be executed before sunrise…but you helped me and…here I am.”

He turned to them with stricken eyes, welling up with tears as if the memory was too much for him to picture.

“I know that I’ve taken so much of your time young lads…but…can this old man ask you for another favour?” his raspy voice wavered, lines on his face which were evident of the years he had lived seemed to double in his distress…how could they just turn him down?

 

“It’s okay, please, just tell us what is it that you wanted?” Luhan asked.

“I don’t have much time to live…but at least I want to see my friend before I die… I will tell you where to go…but can you please save my friend? Free him from the hands of those animals? He needed to get out of there… this kingdom needs him more than anyone else.”

 

 

 

The place where they have to find was outside Eldama, seven days of travel from here. Gahak, as he named himself told them that this person that they have to rescue was almost fifteen feet below the ground, starved and shackled inside for twenty years.

This disturbed them the most because, anyone who was locked up fifteen feet under the ground and starved for twenty ing years would be bones by now.

“You don’t understand…” Gahak said, “He is no ordinary man—he is special…” chuckling, he shook his head, “I am old and I could barely see but I can still picture his pretty face just before he and I separated. My friend… is …immortal.”

Chen choked in his own spit, Yixing’s jaw dropped and Luhan froze on his feet. “He cannot die, nothing could kill him. He had stopped aging for what I think… a century at most, stuck at the body of a twenty years old man.”

“H-How could he possibly an immortal?! Is he the wolf you’re talking about? That statue?” Chen stuttered.

“No,” he laughed, “But Kyungsoo… he’s Kai’s mate. And he built this shrine for the wolf.”

 

Mate…

At this word Yixing and Luhan shared a look. Chen glanced knowingly at them. Kyungsoo is a wolf’s mate and he is immortal—

 “Kai is an immortal wolf, he is the divine being that rules the earth, the vast lands. He’s a divinity of bountiful harvest, of the wilderness and symbolizes strength. I haven’t seen him myself but Kyungsoo had… He said that Kai never shows himself if he doesn’t want to. Kyungsoo told me…that when he reached twenty, Kai told him to drink his blood—and that was what made him immortal.”

 

They couldn’t believe what they were hearing right now. From an immortal wolf’s blood, someone could be immortal? And to think that a wolf could become a divinity…it was out of norms.

“Gahak…does this only work on immortal wolves? I mean the immortal thing?” Luhan said, coming out of trance.

“From what I know of, yes…but it was impossible for an average man to be blessed with this gift, since immortal wolves were buried in legends and myths, no one believes in them anymore.”

 

“Are there any other immortal wolves aside from Kai?” Yixing asked, heart drumming in his chest.

“Yes… I think…but I don’t know how many they are…Kyungsoo knows a lot though… He had lived for more than a century as Kai’s mate…”

 

 

 

As soon as they prepared for their journey, Luhan went back on the road with his friends, Yixing and Chen to find Kyungsoo. There were many things that they wanted to ask from him—about the immortal wolves, about Kai, about what he knew.

Yixing had a suspicion that Suho might be like Kai. From the statue of Kai in the shrine that Gahak said Kyungsoo built, the former’s body and height could rival Suho’s as he remembered him, even when he had seen him only once as a wolf.

Could it possibly be that Suho is also an immortal wolf like Kai? That’s why he’s so much different from the normal wolves, that’s why he had this beautiful emerald eyes and mist surrounding him?

Could it possibly be that Kyungsoo was one of the puzzle pieces they needed to find to know the truth?

 

 

 

 

 

 

“…” Luhan cursed, getting Chen’s attention.

“What is it?”

“I only have about twenty arrows left.” Luhan slung the quiver around his torso, peeking from the trunk of the tree.

They have followed Gahak’s instruction on how to get to Kyungsoo. He wasn’t joking when he said that Kyungsoo had half a hundred guards.

Them against the three? Well that’s unlikely. They needed a miracle for this.

However they couldn’t just go back now could they? They didn’t climb two mountains and cross a ing sea just to die out here. “Don’t worry Luhan, we’ll help you…” Yixing put a hand on his shoulder, making him smile. With the times they spent together, the bond of their friendship gets stronger and stronger.

Chen had become his little brother, childish, impulsive and clumsy and yet he never fails to make them laugh when they were so drained and tired, lightening up the mood that kept them going. Yixing was what Luhan could consider as his best friend, he understood him the most and the fact that they were sailing on the same boat—clueless of what they had become or what they could possibly be, binds them stronger.

With his two friends, his new family, he will never be afraid.

 

“Okay, let’s do this. Yixing, can you do your trick?” the said man nodded, “Been practicing for days now. I think I can manage.”

“Chen?” Luhan turned to his left seeing the younger grin, “Oh I could get used to this,” he said, drawing out his iron sword from the scabbard.  

“I’ll watch your backs okay?” Luhan said, as the two walked out from their hiding place.

“I know you always do…” Chen winked.

 

 

They attacked fearlessly, starting when Luhan killed five guys in a row, directly hitting them with arrows on their foreheads without a miss, kilometres away from the targets. Chen took the time when the others were distracted to hit the vital points of the enemies, either slitting their throats, stabbing their hearts or bellies.

Yixing was a steady fighter, he rarely moves from his point. With only flick of his hands and wrists, waves of water floating in the air forms a drill that pushes groups of enemies before his other hand would control another huge blob of water, drowning anyone he could target.

By the time Luhan had only three arrows left, he chose to shoot one guy who tried to stab Chen’s back and another one who sneaked behind Yixing, with a dagger in hand. His last arrow was shot when his enemy got to his blind side, with him barely evading the flying dagger to his face. Lucky him he was swift to shoot him when he was just five feet away.

And the arrow pierced through his neck.

 

Dead bodies lied on the ground, blood seeping out from the wounds, drying on the soil. They were in a valley, near the capital of the fallen kingdom. In the middle of the valley was a huge hole, a meter in diameter covered with rusting metal. As they walked closer to it, they peeked through the small square holes of the metal cover, seeing nothing inside.

But the fact that it was locked and chained meant something or someone was inside there.

 

Chen made use of the sword, breaking the old rusty locks and in no time they opened the manhole, with it making a noise from the friction of the hinge.

Light passes through the space, and they couldn’t believe what they saw.

There, inside… was a man, curled up on the dirty ground, so thin and fragile with his ankles and wrist locked in a cemented shackle.

“Kyungsoo…?”

And the man opened them, a glowing pair of topaz eyes.