“Scared?”

Luhan caressed my hair gently. We were waiting in the airport with Taeyong and Joonmyun. Sehun was waiting for Jongin’s checkup to make sure everything was right. After the surgery, he took days to heal when others needed months. He was still limping from time to time, but he no longer looked like a walking bloody blood bag.

“Very scared,” I nodded honestly. Tao and Yixing would arrive at the same time as Chanyeol and Kyungsoo. Midnight Changi Airport was so quiet but brightly lit. Even then, I felt very unsettled by the silence. It had only been a day since the news hit us like a storm in a sunny day.

“I’m scared of dying and seeing people die in front of me,” I blurted out, thinking back about the time when Jongin lied motionlessly in my arms, covered with fresh blood that came out of his wounds.

Joonmyun went somewhere trying to find the restroom somewhere in the upper level. Taeyong sat in the nearest bench and fell asleep, like he always did. It was just Luhan and I, waiting in front of the arrival gate. I tapped on the floor with black boots and clung tightly onto the black leather jacket that wrapped around my body.

“Don’t be. Baekhyun won’t touch you with Joonmyun and his family,” Luhan tried to reassure me but no words could offer consolation. I fidgeted anxiously until I saw four figures emerged from the sea of midnight passengers. My heart leaped out in joy to see them unscathed, albeit a little confused at what was happening recently.

“Thank God!” I hugged Yixing and he let out a soft ‘mph’ at my crushing weight. “Thank God you arrive in time.”

***

Joonmyun brought us to Genbu’s main house, located in a restricted island near Singapore. It only took forty-five minutes by boat from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal. Genbu bought the island over in 1978 and started building a huge compound for all of the main families in Southeast Asia. There were walls built underwater and above the ground. Forests with tall, thick trees that served as a perfect cover-up.

I was in awe with how well-designed everything was. It was easier to get lost in a jungle had we not had Jongdae and Joonmyun to guide us through. The main house was located in the middle of somewhere, the route of which I could not remember anymore because we walked barefooted for close to two and a half hours.

Jongin was the one I was worried of most because his injuries had not healed completely yet, and even then, he still insisted on walking with us with a pitiful limp. He refused to take medicine after the third day and persisted that he waited a few more days before the wound would heal.

I was a bit hesitant about this – no matter how strong of a carrier he was, he wouldn’t heal so fast. He seemed so sure, though, his voice full of conviction and confidence. So I told Yixing to take care of Jongin every now and then. Yixing was, after all, a wonderful practitioner of the old Chinese medicine. He knew extensively about Gu (poison), a form of black magic in China and Falun Gong, a qigong technique that was banned in his country.

“Still a long way to go?” Tao asked. He wiped off the sweat that formed on his face. We were all wet and stink of leaves and oil. We went before the sun rose, and now the bright light of the noon sun was hitting us directly from the top of our heads. Joonmyun was a bit more patient when he replied, “Not long now. We are reaching the Southern gate.”

“Southern gate?” Taeyong furrowed his eyebrows and walked nearer. “Is there even such gate in-between the trees?”

Jongdae kept quiet as he poked the ground with a long tree branch. A snake came shooting out of the hole with an angry hiss, and I was the first to retreat. Its color was shiny black, as if its skin could reflect light, and there was an orange-ish pink band around its neck. The snake was beautiful as it was deadly, and when it raised its head, we instantly knew it was a cobra.

“Could you…?” Before I could finish off the sentence, Jongdae had thrown a small dagger he fished out from his pocket. The movement was so swift that the snake didn’t have a chance to spit any venom. It lied dead on the ground.

“Just a black-spitting cobra, no need to get so worked up, Sena,” He explained casually as if it was not a big deal at all. Joonmyun threw me a small smile, and I swore I was getting chills from the wet ground and noises on the trees. Baekhyun would be the least on my worry list because I was more afraid of cobras dropping on my head without a warning.

“Are there a lot of those in this forest?” I asked carefully, sticking very close to Joonmyun and Jongdae because they knew this place well. Behind me, I saw Tao with his ashen face, as if he’d seen a ghost. Kyungsoo and Chanyeol were trying to crack a joke to calm him down.

“The cobras? Yeah, lots of ‘em. That dead one was considered a baby cobra, not so dangerous until its venom is fully developed. But those are the least you should worry about,” Jongdae described vividly with a small smirk on his face. He was getting a beautiful shade of tan on his skin that highlighted all of his features.

“There are others?” I sounded unsure and scared, and finally, Joonmyun reached out to squeeze my hand and didn’t let go anymore. I felt safer with that small, but meaningful gesture.

“Others? Of course. This is a forest, not a playground. Ah, ignore that pretty blue-orange thing over there,” Jongdae pointed out at a tree. I squinted my eyes and saw rope-like creature coiling around its branches. “That’s probably another snake. We are close now, by the way. Just a few meters more.”

 We halted. There was absolutely nothing here. Everything was green and lush and untouched. I was wondering what would happen to us until the Genbu’s youngest son whistled with his hand a strange call to the wilderness. Then a small earthquake happened. We grabbed onto each other for support as walls emerged from the ground. They weren’t just bricks and stones, though.

The first wall was translucent, and it led us to see the second white layer inside. It was fascinating because the translucent wall looked like a layer of water, moving in waves and rhythm as it shook. Sehun raised his hand to touch it, but Joonmyun slapped it away quickly, “Wouldn’t do that if I were you. It’s high temperature lava. Your hand will melt before you realise it.”

Everyone instantly took a step back.

“And the second wall?” I asked curiously.

“Oh, that is also connected to the first wall, so we’ll have to be very fast when we are going in. It electrocutes you instantly,” Jongdae sounded so proud with the extra protection. Out of the four clans, only Genbu would take such a lengthy measurement to protect their own. They weren’t the Shield for nothing.

“Yeah, that’s why our families prefer to travel underwater because it’s easier,” Joonmyun added on. His smile became fainter and fainter until all the trace had faded away from his face. I looked at him and tightened my fingers around his, “And what happens underwater? What’s guarding it?”

“I’m sure you wouldn’t want to know it, Sena, Love,” We were all waiting for Jongdae to work out a series of complicated numbers – which, according to Joonmyun, changed every time a visitor came in. It was amusing, yet troublesome at the same time.

“I want to, so tell me,” I insisted. “Is it robots? Like the Transformers? Or some freakish futuristic stuff I won’t know of?”

“Well, we don’t go that far for underwater protection. There has only been a few intruders in the past decade, and they don’t end up all too well,” Joonmyun recalled with a disgusted expression. His other hand was supporting his chin as he thoughtfully added on, “No sane person should go down there.”

“And what exactly is there?” Now Sehun was interested. He intercepted out of curiosity and urged Joonmyun to reply. He was as fascinated by the Genbu’s facility as I was – being a geek and all. It was one of his strong point, as well as his most adorable and admirable quality – to question and to explore.

“We keep a lot of infant sea animals every year – you can name it, whales, sharks, snakes, saltwater crocodiles. So the scientists in our families got their inspiration from the movie ‘Deep Blue Sea’ and modified these creatures – make them smarter, more agile, and stronger. And it’s not just that,” Joonmyun furrowed his eyebrows together as we waited to hear more.

“Cut the story-telling, brother, you are not being a very good host,” Jongdae grumbled as he punched in the numbers and letters needed into a touch-screen machine in the corner. “Long story cut short – we feed them human flesh every year, sometimes bought from the illegal market, sometimes from our enemies’ dismembered bodies, and so, these creatures develop a craving for human flesh.”

“Yeah, they go insane from time to time because of hunger, so we just have to feed them enough to keep them satisfied. That’s why, don’t ever go near the underwater’s entrance ‘less you want to die,” He didn’t forget to flash us a sweet smile as a reminder. Joonmyun clearly disagreed with his outspoken way, but he didn’t raise a word against him.

“Alright. I’m done setting the password. The door will open in less than ten seconds. Now remember,” He raised a finger and his smirk changed into a serious one, “The two walls are connected together, so you have to run from the first to the second in less than five seconds. Or as I told you before, you would be electrocuted.”

I pulled my hands away from Joonmyun’s and got ready. It was exciting, thrilling yet frightening. I couldn’t wait to find out more about the secretive Genbu and their hideouts because this would be the first in the last few centuries that Genbu had had an alliance with Seiryuu.

“Ready?” Jongdae counted as the translucent wall started to separate into two sections. The lava inside shook again. “3… 2… 1…. Go!”