Chapter I. Magic

Many people say there is no such thing as magic. That things such as making a pigeon out of nothing is just a very well made trick. That cutting someone in half and then showing everyone not one cut has been made is nothing but a gismo where the box was exchanged for another with the help of a machine that could spin fast. Things that were looked upon more like a trick that magic were everywhere. But magic was real. It did exist. He had seen it. When he first saw it, he did not understood what it was but as he grew up and learned more, he finally understood. Magic happened out of nothing, anywhere and everywhere as long as the person trying to use it learned how to communicate with the natural elements.

He saw magic everywhere. From the small care docks that had people with the ability of making blood stop, cuts disappear and bruises fade, bones be pieced back together to the man that slept at the foot of the mountain, waiting for the travelers to light up orbs and guide them. He had seen it in the birth of every new born, the bloom of every flower and the lights that sparked at each wedding.

Magic was part of the day to day life for people leaving in the early 1900. More or less, there were people that could make fireflies spread across the sky, heal other peoples or hurt others.  There were different types of magic. There was magic used to heal, like that used by his dear friend Leeteuk. There was magic used for defense, that implied mostly sending other people flying, making them freeze and blow up even like those Kangin, Siwon and Sungmin could make. There was magic that could play with your head and make you see things that were not real or make you forget things like those he had seen Kyuhyun and Heechul using.

There was magic solely for improving living, such as making a wheel spin faster or the clothes wash themselves such as the magic Yesung or Shindong performed. There was magic in potions such as those created by Ryeowook during night time. He had learned all that from them, as he watched Leeteuk heal some people. As he saw the dark aura Yesung grumpily sit down and wait for passersby’s wherever they were located at just to cross them over a dark valley.

He had learned that as he watched Sungmin fly someone almost 100 meters away with just a reveal of his palm and a deep breathe. And while he wished he wouldn’t have done that, he had seen Heechul getting inside someone’s head and getting all the needed information with him simply whispering words he would never understand in their ears. Then again, that could have also been because Heechul was a natural flirt but Kyuhyun could do it as well.

But that wasn’t his first time learning about magic. He had grown to see it everywhere and learned little by little about it but it wasn’t his first encounter with it. When he had first seen magic, to his eyes it looked like a storm of great proportions, calculated and focused on destroying everything of the village.

The first time he had seen it, he had been 6. Though he was not supposed to leave his house nor small town, he had left in the middle of the night. He had been on the field outside, picking up flowers of all colors so that early in the morning he could give them to his mother. It was going to be her birthday.

He was about to return to his village when that awful storm began. His instincts were telling him to run away and stay as far as possible away from the storm but there, in the middle of everything, were his parents, his older brother, his friends and aunts and uncles and people that had always been kind to him. So he had run towards it.

He ran inside, trying to find his family. He wasn’t sure if he had tripped or if he stumbled or if simply his legs had given in, but right as he fell down to the ground, a thunder right beside him, barely inches away and hit to his right. And right under his eyes, he saw a young man that he knew had proposed a few days ago turn into ashes right under his eyes.

Fear had cheeped inside his heart and he had hidden behind the small piece of wood that had remained still standing though it had exploded merely seconds ago. And when the thunders and shouts of fear and screams and noise all quieted down, there was only the sound of steps.

One step, two steps, making him turn into a ball behind the remainings of the building. Another step, making his breathing stop and his heart beat faster. Another step, and a flock of bright red hair on a man wearing a cloak appeared in front of his eyes. He covered his mouth, the flowers he had held to so strongly falling down on the ground and he prayed.

And because he had prayed, that flock of red hair moved further away. No matter how many times he would dream about it, he could not remember a face, nor any other feature besides that red bright hair that was unnatural. Magic, as he had later learned, was not just of protection, of defense, attack or guidance, not just to mess with people’s heads or create potions over positions. That was true. But magic....

Magic was good or evil. Siwon liked to believe that magic found the people. The average people with average life experiences and auras could have no magic. Or they could. Siwon liked to believe it was something about having it written in the stars, in one’s destiny. That it formed and grew within us until the age of 15 and then revealed itself. It made somewhat sense as many of the witches and wizards claimed to have seen their powers unfolding in front of their eyes around that age.

If magic chose people by their hears, good magic for good people and bad magic for bad people, then Heechul himself wasn’t very convinced that was true. He was an example, Kyuhyun was an example, Yesung was an example of wizards that used white magic and helped people. Their hearts... well, let us all say that very few could come up with as many means of torturing someone as the three of them could.

It didn’t really matter for him, because he couldn’t do magic. Yes, he had learn some few incantations that were supposed to help him out and learned most herbs that were of use in potions but that was not his expertize. He had been told he has his own magic, otherwise those few spells would have never worked. He had been told his greatest magic was kindness and while it might not have had the same results as magic, the intention and feeling was much more important than all the magic out there.

That was more like a pep talk that he was being given every time they were faced with a serious situation, a witch or wizard that was using his or her magic for wrongdoings. The first time he had seen Magic after being left alone, to starve in the middle of a hometown turned into ashes, was when he had been 10. There was a show he had entered illegally with the heart of a small kid that he was. When he had seen orbs of light moving around him without  them supported by anything, without them being fireflies, just moving, he had freaked out.

Leeteuk, who had found him then, liked to and remind him of how he had curled into a ball against the boy next to him, with his finger inside his mouth while whimpering. In the other boy's mouth, to be more accurate. It was his first time finding out about that being called magic. Of course, there were several different names to it. Sorcery was another but it sounded more like a bad thing when used so he preferred Magic.

Magic could be used to do something good or could be used to do evil and that had nothing to do with the calling or the arrangement of the starts. A good person could use magic to hurt and a bad person could use magic to heal. It all mattered how the person used it. That was something he had determined quite some time ago when he had turned of age.

When he turned 20, he had pledged he would track down all those that used magic to cause harm. Not as a witch hunter. The so called witch hunters were nothing but a bunch of fools that believed that anything that could not be explained was not of this world. The only unexplainable things were God and nature and the man should not have power over them. The so called witch hunters didn’t know of magic that helped and magic that hurt. Even if one was to see them healing, they would still take them, accuse them.

Those so called witch hunters were gathering everyone that used magic, good or bad, and without even asking questions, and burned them down. The real hunters were part of the Coven, abiding by the rules enforced by them and defending them.  Dark magic hunters, they preferred the name,  tracked down any person that repeatedly used dark magic and did give them the right to trial in front of a Counsel.

He, a mere human with little to no magic, had joined them because of his need to ease his heart. It might have been because of the influence his friends had over him and them joining the DMH, as they called it to make it easy. That was how, in the year 1939, at the age of 26, Lee Donghae, the sole survivor of an entire village and of his name, adventured to stop the dark forces.

“What are you dreaming off?” Kyuhyun spoke into his ear, making Donghae jump in surprise right on his feet, searching around with his eyes.

“Damn it, stop scaring me.” He spoke as he turned to face the dark black haired, about 180 tall that was next to him.

“It’s not my fault you were daydreaming looking at the sky.” Kyuhyun shrugged and placed his gun in his handle, arranging a bit the two line belt around his waist.

As he stepped over the log of wood, he arranged his black coat and dusted of whatever he had over his black shirt and then pushed the folds of the coat behind and sat himself down, his head raising to look towards the same star filled sky the other had been lost in.

“Finished?” Donghae spoke as he sat himself back down on the log, next to the other.

“Yes. It’s quite a pity the guy didn’t struggle. I wish I could have shot him at least once.” The black haired growled under his breath with half of his face hidden in the collar of his coat as he began trying to remove his gloves.

“There you go again.” Donghae chuckled.

“What?” Kyuhyun looked towards the brown haired, feeling the need to fix that shirt collar since it was twisted on the inside. “He would have deserved it.” he shrugged and then threw one of his gloves in the air and caught it only to later push it to the side and slap the other.

“Stop it.” Donghae was fast enough to slap the glove all the way back to the black haired.

“Anyway... the Coven sent us a mission.” Kyuhyun mentioned as he took out a piece of paper out of his inner coat pocket.

“Where are we going? How many of us?” Donghae looked surprised towards the other, taking the piece of paper.

“Into Seoul.” Kyuhyun yawned, starting to undo the hold on his belt. “It will be me and you for this mission.” He continued as he sat down on the ground, leaning his back against the wooden log.

“Just us?” the brown haired stared with the paper still unopened in his hand. “ Without Kangin hyung or Sungmin hyung or Siwon?” he asked, keeping his eyes on the jet black haired.

“Yup. There is a guy using magic to trick youngsters and them. We don’t know if he’s a Japanese or a Korean but we need to catch him. They figured you’re enough if he attacks.” Kyuhyun started moving around with his body to find a more proper position against the log.

That damn piece of wood was uncomfortable. Too high for him to lean his head on and be able to rest and too small of for his entire back to rest against it without straining it. Except for sitting on, there was nothing else it was good for. Well, there was firewood but he wasn’t cold enough to chop it and make a fire.

“Are we sure it’s a guy?” Donghae questioned as he opened the paper, finally, and looked in surprise at the amount of names listed as victims of that person.

“Well... both males and females were . There was penetration and signs of . Unless it was planted there, it is a guy.” Kyuhyun shrugged. “Plus the few witnesses mention a guy about 185 tall with brown hair speaking to the victims hour before. This is a guy I wish I could use the red on.” He then made a disgusted face expression, looking as if he had eaten something extremely sour.

“Kyuhyun...” Donghae tried to scold the other.

“Please. The guy uses his magic on young people, kids, s and messes with their heads. He’s stealing them of their ity in a dirty way, leaving them with traumas. We already have enough on our plate with the Japanese ruling and the political problems going on. He’s hurting kids and that’s not something I am happy with. I’d have him skinned and then burned.”

Donghae nodded his head a bit, understanding the reasoning behind the words spoken by Kyuhyun. There were three types of punishments given to those found guilty by the Coven. The easiest one implied working for the community, joining the Korean forces to fight off the Japanese or just for daily life improvement since they officially could not get involved in the war. The average one was a lock out in a jail, a specific type of jail where no pour could be used, just like non-magic criminals received. And just like there was a dead sentence for the worst offenders, there was one for the magic offenders. The so called witch hunters would gather anyone and have them burned but the DMH would first skin them, removing layers of skin here and there and then burning them. Fire was considered a purifying ritual. It was quite weird how the anti-magic extremist burned witches to purify them when the ritual itself was magic related. Of course, the different between them burning the dark magic users and the witch hunters doing it was obvious. They applied it only for cold blooded, evil magic users.

“It’s been a long time since the last visit to Seoul.” Donghae mentioned as he stood up.

From where he was standing, up on a cliff, the moment he looked down into the distance, he could see the colors and lights of the town, their capital being more alive during the night than during the day.

“Yeah... To think there are still magic users in the capital. I thought they all fled to the smaller towns or villages.” Kyuhyun agreed and then finally stood up, deciding to hit the wooden log though he knew he would whimper in pain a few seconds later.

“Should we use different clothes?” Donghae turned to look towards the other.

It was exciting to be returning to a main town. Most magic users were in the villages, closer to the nature so that they connect with the elements they used more often. The main towns were filled with the Japanese army, the Korean fighters, a constant state of concern where more and more buildings out of wood were torn down and replaced with concrete.

“No. From my understanding, we’re getting a free pass from the military if they can tell we use magic. So ...” Kyuhyun grinned as he moved towards the other.

Placing his hand over Donghae’s shoulder, he turned to look at the night view of the city and took a very deep breath to remember the sweet taste and smell of fresh air.

“So stick close to me.” He grinned towards Donghae, moving his other hand to search for the gun of the brown haired.

“I can do a few spells myself.” Donghae pouted, hating how tall the other was compared to him, especially when wearing those damn high heel boots that had been brought from the western world.

Kyuhyun only chuckled and then turned towards the edge of the cliff, stepping almost all the way to the edge, only his heels remaining on the ground. As he took in the cold air, small pearl like orbits started raising from the ground and then began moving around his body, slowly, as if they were pulsing around him. Donghae understood what the other was starting to do so he moved back towards the woods, looking for the small cottage they had noticed on their way up, the same one they used a few days back when they split ways to each do his mission.

Kyuhyun now needed time by his own, to connect to the air. He had learned in the first years after joining the crew that each magician felt closer to a particular element. For Kyuhyun it was air. Through the air that he breathed, the air that was all around him, he could feel the tension in it, the happiness in it. Just by breathing it, he could tell if there were other magic users around, if there was a fight somewhere, if someone was suffering anywhere.

It was like the air was talking to Kyuhyun, same for Heechul, and maybe that was why the two of them could get into other people’s mind. Just like they breathed air, the air those people inhaled seemed to be the intermediary that allowed them access to their thoughts and minds per whole. Since they were going to the capital, to Seoul, Kyuhyun was going to need all the help and self-control needed so that he wouldn’t be overwhelmed by the people and their thoughts.

It was easier for Donghae. Since he could do only a few basic spells, most of them protection related, he wasn’t getting invaded nor by other people’s thoughts, nor by their hearts nor by their wounds. The few protection spells; he had learned them so that his mind would not be invaded. The ring he held on his finger, a sapphire as a stone, it helped as a barrier to block of average spells and as a tracker as well.

It was supposed to turn red the moment it sensed magic around, even more so when getting closer to the source of it. That ring was everything he needed to block and sense magic. The gun he carried, it was only a gun. It was a gun that used bullets. Bullets could hurt and kill people, regardless of them being magic users or not.

The colored stripes around his waist, green, yellow, red, were nothing but small doses of potions in a skin that would resist a gun fire but still let the content make contact with the target. Green for paralyzing, yellow for blocking off magic for half an hour until a Seal could be placed, and red, the red that was nothing but a substance acid like that could burn into the flesh and spread quickly through the blood. It paralyzed, stopped magic and injured the target like a normal bullet.

Magic, it was too complicated for Donghae to understand. There was still much unknown and still many dangers ahead of him; like that red haired whose identity he never found out and yet had the power to make an entire village turn into ashes in a matter of minutes. 20 years had passed but that danger was still out there. As long as they didn’t cross paths, he had confidence to face his enemies. There was a small desire inside of his heart, a nasty desire that made him want to meet that wizard with red haired.

He wanted to know why. There were people using dark magic just because they could, hurting others for their enjoyment but there were also people trying, testing their abilities. He had asked about a red haired wizard a few years after joining the DMH but he could find no reports about it. There were several reports of witches and wizards that had done great damage in the past, but there were names attached to it, not hair colors.

He wanted to know. Had it been because of pure enjoyment or to test his abilities? Donghae wasn’t even sure why he believed that person was a guy. Maybe it was because of how short the hair looked, or the fact that the flat heel boots were the same as those his father wore during special occasions. If he had gotten to see any other facial detail, a ring, an earring, anything, he might have had more chances but he knew nothing.

Just as much as he wanted to meet that person and ask why, get him into a trial and then have him receive his punishment, he wished he would never have to meet the other. He had told his hyungs and friends about what had happened and they had promised to help as well, but all of them knew that if someone had the power to completely turn into ashes an entire village in a matter of seconds, then that someone was dangerous.

The young Donghae would explain it as thunders escaping the man’s hands, being sent all over the place. The older Donghae understood that summoning thunders and electricity and have it run through a human body required a power beyond his understanding. If he was to meet someone this powerful without being prepared to face him, or maybe her, the chances of him dying were pretty big. If enjoyment, even if testing, a wizard that killed so many could want to finish his work and end the life of the last survivor. If he was going to meet that witch or wizard, Donghae wanted to be able to face him, hold him still and question him.  Entering the cottage in the mountains, Donghae sat down on the ground and then pretended to try and make a fire just like all his wizard friends could.

Chuckling to himself, he laid down on the blanket and tried to close his eyes. Venturing into Seoul. That was something he had not thought he would end up doing sometime soon. Not with only one companion. He wasn’t sure of what was going to await for him in the big city, but he knew his priorities well. Before worrying about the red haired wizard, he had a dark magic user to catch.

If he’d have the vision, he could see into his future but he didn’t have that rare ability. He was going to venture blindly into a new territory without knowing that fate had much more prepared for him, ready to capture his mind, body and heart threatening to crush them all.