Chapter 15 – An Unnatural Spell

It takes a little while to gather all of the unconscious bodies outside, especially since Jaehwan didn’t use the spell Hakyeon was that levitated people off the ground. Hakyeon frowns as he walks through the unconscious sorcerers and apprentices.

“What’s wrong?” Jaehwan questions.

“Yeongsik isn’t here.”

Jaehwan’s brows pull down too. “Did he get away?”

“I don’t think he was here to begin with. If he had been then there would have been slightly more of a fight or you would have had more trouble in the basement.”

“So where is he?”

“He used to be a supplier for the king. Maybe the king rehired him,” Hakyeon raises an eyebrow at Jaehwan. “Do you still keep up with what the king is doing?”

“Sorry. He’s a lot harder to access now than he used to be. I’ve been busy with the prince anyway.”

“It’s fine. It’s just a guess but I assume if Yeongsik isn’t here then he’s with the king.”

“Do I want to know what they’re probably doing?”

“No.”

He felt like asking Jaehwan if there had been any empty cages in the basement but decides to let it go. They need to get everything done before the apprentices wake up, besides they can’t do anything about Hongbin’s teacher now anyway.

After making sure the sorcerers and apprentices are all here Hakyeon casts his spell; Jaehwan can’t help the little shudder than runs through him. It’s a spell that shouldn’t exist, he believes. If magic was born in people naturally, then it shouldn’t be something that was taken away forcefully. Despite Jaehwan’s view on this matter he also thought magic was being used the wrong way, that maybe it had had its time and it didn’t fit in the world anymore. That was why he was helping Hakyeon and it was the same as what the prince thought.

As it always did, the spell pushes its targets away from Hakyeon and he makes sure he casts a cushioning spell straight away so they don’t collide with each other or the ground. He’d cast the spell inside a few times before and the results were not good, what with furniture and walls all around…

While Hakyeon and Jaehwan work to move everybody back inside after their magic is removed, Leo begins teleporting the major creatures and releasing them.

He returns to them exhausted but he was more concerned about Hakyeon’s condition since he was the one who used magic that had detrimental effects. Leo, on the other hand, would be fine in a few days.

The puppy had settled onto Jaehwan’s lap on the couch while they waited for Leo’s return. His eyes would close against his will but then he’d startle awake and his tail would wag pathetically. When Leo gets back Jaehwan stands up, cradling the puppy in his arms.

“What are we going to do about him?” Hakyeon asks Jaehwan, worriedly watching Leo lean against the wall with shaky legs.

Jaehwan sighs. “I’d take him but…”

“No, I understand. He can’t stay as a dog forever,” Hakyeon nods. If Jaehwan were to take him the Anyegi would always have to be in his dog form as transforming would result in a one-way ticket to the palace basement as an ingredient.

The puppy stares up at Jaehwan both sadly and adoringly and Jaehwan frowns. “I’ll come visit you sometime.”

A soft thumping against his ribs alerts Jaehwan to the puppy’s tail wagging and he feels his lips pull up. After one more pat he hands the puppy over to Hakyeon. The sorcerer the puppy and coos softly before he looks at Leo.

“Think you can carry three home?”

“…I’ll do my best,” Leo says, forcing himself to stand up properly.

That’s a maybe, Hakyeon notes, already planning how they could get home on foot from here just in case. Leo had pushed himself past his limit today due to the number of apprentices here and the size of the house and was no doubt exhausted. This was the most sorcerers in one place except for the palace.

“You shouldn’t stick around for much longer,” he tells Jaehwan. “Don’t you have a prince to be guarding?”

That triggers something in Jaehwan’s brain and he remembers what he’d meant to tell Hakyeon earlier but hadn’t gotten the chance.

“Minho is meeting with officials from surrounding countries again next week, just so you know.”

That surprises Hakyeon. He hadn’t known the prince was still willing to risk himself like that. His expression must have shown what he was thinking because Jaehwan chuckles.

“The king is trusting him more and more with things like this so there isn’t as much risk.”

“Oh. So is the king getting ready to step down then?” Hakyeon asks.

“Hah, of course not,” Jaehwan scoffs. “He just doesn’t want to do it himself. He’s more focused on the war. He’s started offering rewards for anyone that can bring him an Anyethi or Anyegi.”

Hakyeon tuts angrily but doesn’t really have anything to say. Actually, there is a lot he could say but he’s ranted about it all before and doing so again would get them nowhere.

“Now, if the king did step down that would be really convenient and our troubles would be over,” Jaehwan mutters, wishful.

That day would never come. Not to a king with so much greed and access to a sorcerer who could make anti-aging potions.

“We’ll deal with that when we have to,” Leo says when Hakyeon doesn’t.

“Right,” Hakyeon agrees, calming himself. “Make sure you check in with Ravi every now and then.”

Jaehwan rolls his eyes. “I will, I will, I always do. Mum. I’ll also have a look around the palace and see if Yeongsik is there.”

“Thanks, Jaehwan,” he says sincerely before turning to Leo. “Let’s go.”

Leo takes Hakyeon’s free hand, avoiding the puppy, and teleports home.

They land harder than they would normally have and Leo collapses almost instantly. Hakyeon catches him and works to lower the puppy to the ground gently while not dropping Leo. Hakyeon is physically smaller than Leo when he’s in his human form, but that doesn’t stop him from picking the other man up and carrying him through the house.

The Anyegi follows after him weakly on shaky legs, keeping up by sheer willpower alone. He is thoroughly confused by the house and that only makes him follow more closely.

After putting Leo to bed Hakyeon turns back to the puppy, scooping him up easily. “Let’s get that stupid spell off,” he says as he walks towards one of his work rooms.

One hour and a heap of magic – that Hakyeon shouldn’t have used – later, the spell breaks. The silver band snaps off from around the puppy’s neck and he practically sighs before looking up at Hakyeon with grateful eyes.

“It might take you a few days to be able to change,” Hakyeon tells him. “Let’s get some food.”

The puppy’s eyes light up and Hakyeon holds back a grin.

Leo spends three days in bed and Hakyeon would have done the same if he hadn’t had a puppy to take care of. It’s a good distraction, one that keeps his mind from wandering to the dark places it tended to end up after he’d used a lot of magic, and he’s glad it gives him a reason to get out of bed.

The potion Ravi had promised was waiting in the kitchen and Hakyeon drank it gratefully.  Despite being cut off from his magic Hakyeon knows how unstable it is and he realizes he can’t risk letting his reserves grow any more, he’d have to stop making potions of any sort.

When he tells Leo the cat gives him a look that said he should have stopped a long time ago. Hakyeon chooses to ignore that look. Leo had turned back into a cat halfway through the first night, much to his chagrin. His ability to transform was generally pretty random. Sometimes he could change into human form at will but usually he couldn’t and the spell forced him into cat form.

On the third night back the puppy transforms into his human form. It surprises Hakyeon to come back from the kitchen and find a teenager on the floor in the lounge room. Leo is so surprised he runs away and leaves Hakyeon to deal with the screaming teen.

“What’s your name?” Hakyeon asks soothingly as the Anyegi curls up in pain and sobs.

“S-Sang-…-hyuk,” the teen manages to gasp.

Hakyeon pays no attention to Sanghyuk’s ness as he massages his muscles. He did this for Leo whenever Leo went a while between changing and knew it helped. He knew that the Anyegi’s muscles would be cramping all over and that his joints would be aching constantly.

After ten minutes of massaging and sobbing Leo teleports into the room, front leg awkwardly hooked around a potion bottle that had definitely been stolen from Ravi’s shop. That doesn’t matter right now, what mattered was that it was a pain-relief potion.

Hakyeon unstoppers the bottle and presses it to Sanghyuk’s lips. He drinks without question and the relief is instantaneous. The pain is dulled but not gone and Sanghyuk sits up, curling in on himself a little and only now feeling embarrassed by his lack of clothes. It wasn’t something he’d had to be – or been able to be – embarrassed about for a long, long time.

Leo disappears again and Hakyeon sighs before he begins helping Sanghyuk to his feet. He’s a lot bigger than Hakyeon had expected, considering his dog form was so small. He’d actually thought the Anyegi was a child until now.

“How old are you?” Hakyeon asks as they begin walking towards Sanghyuk’s bedroom.

“Eighteen,” Sanghyuk mutters.

“Where are you from?” Hakyeon enquires, thinking of getting the Anyegi back to his home.

“I don’t know,” Sanghyuk brokenly whispers.

Hakyeon thinks his heart breaks a little because the only way Sanghyuk would have no idea where he was from would be if he was taken at a very young age.

“It’s okay,” he comforts. “We can deal with all of this later. For now we’ll just work on getting you healthy again. Okay?”

Sanghyuk nods but he’s still crying silently.

I’m not going to say what breed of dog Sanghyuk looks like, it’s up to you.