Four men sat on the round table, while the other was busy writing some words on the board. The board itself was already full of words, before he added some more words. The look on their face was clear that they were frustrated. After all, the plan that they had planned long ago was wasted.

“The plan that we had planned perfectly was ruined.” The black haired man whispered.

“ that hidden one! And that commander too for erasing his scent so we can’t search him!” The spiked hair man said in anger.

“Take it easy, Youngbae. No one can stop us for getting the crown.” The long haired man smirked.

“Same goes to you, Seunghyun.” Said the blonde man.

The blonde man had finished his works. He smiled widely at his brilliant plan. Even though he could only read their move a little, that didn’t mean he couldn’t make a brilliant plan. He also wrote plan b, plan c and others. Nobody could stop their move to snatch the crown away from the friends. Nobody. For one moment, they forgot that the hidden one was the loyal servant of their number one enemy, the mage.

“I don’t know why Heechul’s crystal is broken, but it has something to do with Ryeowook’s crystal. I assume, the hidden one wanted to wake up the prince, because he didn’t have much power to control us. Leeteuk was dead, and he knew that it was our work. In conclusion, if he woke Ryeowook up then Castelmare was safe.” The blonde man explained his opinion to the others.

“If the others wake up then the prince will regain his memory back. But all of the friends are there to oppose us, Daesung-ah” The turquoise head one said.

“We beat all of them in the last war. Our focus now is the redeemer trio. If we’re lucky, we can kill Leeteuk again, Ryeowook’s power is not really a big deal. And the commander! We don’t know where is he coming, but we can use the sandman. Problem solved.” Daesung said confidently.

“Genius!” The long haired man, Jiyong, clapped his hands.

“We will follow the prince then. Shall we play along a little?” Said Youngbae.

“Great idea!”

***

Ryeowook pulled up the reins of his horse as the signal to stop for a while. He had been riding the horse from dawn until now, mid afternoon. He is tired, and he didn’t sleep properly last night. He kept waking up for over small things, like a weird cracking sound from the tree outside the window, or the sound of the guards’ footsteps. He hopped off from his horse, wondering why he didn’t get taller than the last time he rode the horse, which was about five years ago or maybe more.

The cold water refreshed him. No matter how much water he splashed on his face, he still felt sleepy. He yawned and decided to take a nap for some minutes. It was a nice weather to sleep under the tree. He had tied his horse and he had his weapons, he thought that he shouldn’t worry. But he didn’t know that the real enemies were beside him, and ready to attack once he closed his eyes.

“It’s time!” Youngbae whispered to the younger man.

Ryeowook had slipped into dream land for about several minutes. The time was enough for the enemies to go near him. The spiked hair man walked to his horse and he untied the rope. The horse snarled at him, understanding that his master was in danger. It didn’t give any effect from the man. On the contrary, the man was laughing, mocking the horse. He pulled the grass on the ground and chanted some words. And suddenly, the grass turned into poisonous snakes. The snakes made the horse ran away without Ryeowook.

“Good job! Now, it’s my turn.” Seunghyun said to the older man.

He grabbed the knife from his pocket; he also grabbed a little green bottle. He smiled when he dropped the liquid from the green bottle. The knife produced a black smoke, and the knife had a sizzling sound.

“You will kill him!” Youngbae said loudly.

The younger man only smiled at him. He squinted his right eye to lock his target. He threw his knife to where Ryeowook was sleeping. The knife flew on the air, streaking to Ryeowook’s left shoulder. If an arrow didn’t hit the knife, the knife would be nested on his shoulder.

Both Youngbae and Seunghyun shocked at the intruder. They didn’t know where the one who aimed the arrow to the knife was. They hid under the bush, searching for that person. But unfortunately, the person wasn’t a fool; he kept aimed his arrow to where they hid. They got irritated and decided to go away.

***

Ryeowook hissed when he felt his left arm numb. His left arm bleed due to the long wound. He touched the stained bandage. The bandage wasn’t enough to stop his blood. The white bandage had turned into red. He clutched his arm to stop the blood, but instead of stopping the blood, he curled when the pain from his arm shot into his head, leaving him powerless.

“Is it hurt?” Said someone.

Ryeowook sat on the bed only realizing just now that he wasn’t sleeping near the lake. His hand grabbed a cup from the nightstand as his weapon. That person chuckled at Ryeowook, leaving Ryeowook dumbfounded.

“I will heal you.” The man said gently.

Ryeowook put the glass on the nightstand again, trusting the man in front of his eyes. He was the one who brought him here, so why didn’t trust him? Unless he had a real big trust issue.

“It will be hurt. Promise me to bear with it, will you?” The man said.

Something rang in Ryeowook’s head. He knew someone who had said that words, but who was that person? He felt that that person was really important for him. It wasn’t his father, he knew it. But if he was someone important for him, why did he forget about him?

Ryeowook hissed when the white liquid turned into some colors. It turned into yellow, then green. He felt the liquid sipped into his pores when it turned into red.

“There!” The man cheered happily.

Something rang in Ryeowook’s head again, but this time was loud. He grabbed a fistful of his hair, trying to get rid the loud whisper on his head.

“What’s wrong?” The man asked.

“Something’s weird with my head.” He answered. Ryeowook hissed again for the nth time today.

The blue stoned necklace was hot around his neck. He felt his throat dry and burning at the same time. He coughed and coughed until the other man pushed him gently to lay on the bed.

“You need some rest then.” He said.

Ryeowook wanted to protest but he closed his mouth when several blankets trapped him. Maybe, it was just a side effect from the potion. He didn’t know it because he couldn’t use his magical power. His father said, he was founded in the middle of forbidden forest when he was around five years old, wounded heavily. Because of that, he lost his magical power, and his memories. And maybe, this man was an acquaintance of his family? He kept thinking, and thinking before the sleepiness took him to the other world.

***

A loud sound coming from the explosion, making Ryeowook jumped in sudden. His brother was there, slumping against the door. His hair swayed from time to time when he shook her head. His shoulder was trembling, and he could hear his sobs.

“Heechul hyung?” He called his brother.

His brother looked straight into his eyes. He ran to where Ryeowook was. He hugged him tightly as if it was his last time to hug Ryeowook.

“Dad and mom were fighting with some old men.” He whispered to Ryeowook.

Ryeowook hugged his brother too. He understood that his brother was afraid just like him. At least his brother had gone into some training. Ryeowook wasn’t old enough to go to training camp, but he knew basic magic. He could thank his books later.

He knew his homeland was facing some problems because the witches tried to be the one who ruled Castelmare. But the one who was supposed to rule Castelmare was the mage. Witches were black magic practicians, if they ruled Castelmare, the magic elements wouldn’t be balance. Same with the wizards, although they were the white magic practicians, if they ruled Castlemare, the magic elements wouldn’t be balance too. But the mages, they were the one who had both of the magic elements. They could control them, they could control the magic elements in Castelmare.

The wizards understood this but the witches didn’t. That was why the first one who got killed was us, not the mage. Why would they protect the mages? Because, in Castelmare there was only one mage clan, the Cho. Without the Cho, he swore, he wouldn’t be here more than twenty four hours. Castelmare would be a permanent battle field. He knew some stories courtesy of his undying love in reading history books.

“Earth to Ryeowook!” Heechul shouted.

“What was that again, hyung?” Ryeowook asked.

“Stay here. I will open the emergency door to the castle and come back to pick you. Promise me to stay here until I’m here, will you?” Heechul said.

Ryeowoook nodded his head, hiding under his blanket to wait for his hyung. His little hand made ball gesture to sprinkle some magic dust around him and his bed. He squeaked when the magic dust emitted blue light around him. He smiled and decided to go to outside a little until his hyung’s arrival.

***

“Ryeowook!” Someone screamed.

Ryeowook’s eyes saw his bloody mom near a masked man. He backed away from the scary man. He chanted some words to attack the man in front of him.

“He is the purest soul in the prophecy, right?” The masked man asked.

“No!” His mother screamed again.

He was wrong. He didn’t want to be outside. He wanted to be under his warm blanket not in here. He was wrong. He didn’t keep his promise with his brother. He was wrong. He wanted to go to the castle with the emergency door.

“Mom!” Ryeowook cried out loud at the picture.

His mother neck was not on its right place. Her head was cracked to the left side. His little hand touched his mother’s head, placing it again to the right place. He kept rubbing the joint of his mother head and neck, pretending he was sewing them back together. The masked man laughed evilly.

“Useless! You’re not the one from the prophecy.” He spat the blood in his mouth.

***

Ryeowook woke up from another nightmare. That was one of the reason why he didn’t like to sleep. He never went into dreamless sleep from the very beginning. He always had many dreams about many people he didn’t know. And he kept dreaming about war and war. What the hell was wrong with Castelmare? His land was in peace! Nothing was wrong. Except the mystery of his father’s dead.

“Oh! Good evening!” Said the man from outside the window.

“What the?” Ryeowook whispered in fear. He didn’t ready for another sudden appearance.

“Dinner?” The man asked politely.

“No? Oh my god! Where is my manner? I’m Heechul. I’m ready to serve you, my prince.” Heechul said again.

“That’s okay.” Ryeowook said, while he stood from the fluffy bed.

Ryeowook walked to the outside, getting awkward at their position. He looked at the sky, he counted the stars and made lines with his finger. The fresh air was really relaxing. The night breeze blewing tree leaves was like a beautiful melody.

“Anyway, did you see my horse?”

“No my prince, I found you bleeding near the lake but I didn’t saw any horse.” Heechul answered, while he focused brewing some herbs in the cauldron.

“Do you have any horse?” He asked the taller man.

“Yeah. Where are you heading off, my prince?”

“The forbidden forest.”

“You know where is it? I think it was just another fairy tale from the magical land itself.” He said sarcastically.

“Yeah. You will find the forbidden forest if you follow the aligned stars.” Heechul noted in silence where would he head off.

Luckily, he didn’t need to wait too long to know where he should head off, and also his potions were done. He could leave the house after Ryeowook had gone.

“Heechul-ssi, did we meet before?”

Heechul dropped the stick in the boiling potion. He whispered some unidentified words to bring back the stick to where it should be.

“You were my brother in my dream. Was it funny to dream someone that you met a couple hours ago?” He asked again, getting nervous about the other’s thoughts.

“Do you believe in magic, Ryeowook-ssi?” Heechul answered with another question.

“Yes?”

“Then, believe it or not, your dreams are true.”

Ryeowook’s mouth was hanging open. He couldn’t understand what was the meaning of the words. But deep inside his heart, he agreed with the older man.

Something warm touched his neck. Ryeowook looked at his shining necklace.

“Since when the necklace has a crack?” Ryeowook whispered.

“Do you want to borrow my horse or not?”

Ryeowook looked at Heechul who was getting further away. 

“Wait!” He shouted.

***

How was it? I’m sorry if there are some wrong words. I’m confuse how can I put TOP along with Seungri with their real name? They have same name, urghh >.< Leave some comments