[Author's Current Condition]

Suffering from bad WiFi connection.

[Author's Note]

Hi, so this is the first chapter for this fanfiction. This will be a two chaptered fanfiction. It's going to be rather short, but I hope it will be good enough for you guys. Don't forget to leave comments below, tell me how you think about the story and vote if you like the story. Thank you for reading.

It couldn’t be louder than this. This was the most deafening sound he had ever heard. Coming from a small town across the lake, JinYoung never thought there would be so many people crowding under such a huge tent. And his eyes marveled at the excited spectators from the whole town. Apparently, coming to this big town had opened his eyes that there were lives outside his small little town. And it had been a great visit, honestly, everything was beautiful, and everything was different from how he knew. It was good different. Except for the loud noise. The only thing JinYoung couldn’t stand. The loud noise was too much for his ears to bear. He thought the market place was noisy, but this circus tent had proven otherwise. He was startled everytime the specators behind him shouted excitedly to every attraction the circus animals showed.

When the ringmaster lit the big metal ring on fire, the crowd went silent, and a huge lion made it’s entrance, gaining people’s gasps. It was his first time seeing a real lion in his life. It was huge. Almost as big as the ringmaster, who calmly stood next to the ring with a whip placed over his shoulder. And as if on cue, the lion ran towards the burning ring and it jumped through the ring, as the ringmaster whipped the ground. Claps echoed inside the huge tent, and the ringmaster pulled another ring and set it parallel to the first ring. The ringmaster then set the ring on fire, too, and soon after, a whipping sound was heard and the crowd cheered again as the lion jumped through both of the burning ring. The ringmaster grinned widely and bowed.

“And now,” he said. “For our final act!”

JinYoung could hear the drumroll and the loud fanfare, and the crowds cheered even louder than before. JinYoung watched, face unamused. The show was good, but he just didn’t find it living up to his expectation, as he recalled some remarks from merchants in his town. But seeing the previous performances, JinYoung thought it was about the same with the circus he saw on his town. Only on a bigger scale. Beside him, his sister jerked him out of his daze.

“JinYoung, look!” JiMin exclaimed, pointing into the circus ring. “It’s the Circus Boy!”

The famous Circus Boy was the very reason this Circus Tent was filled with crowds. It is said that his body was a spirit vessel, cursed by the Mountain Witch in the forbidden mountain east of the town. The boy was said to have stunning ability to control objects by possessing them. And people wanted to see it for themselves. It was the highlight of the show as it was the attraction that brought people to the big town. And that’s what JinYoung and JiMin were here for in the first place.

JinYoung was not interested in these mystical things and nor was he intrigued to watch the show, as his ears needed the peaceful and silence they deserved. All he did was stare blankly at the circus ring, as the ringmaster introduced the mystical boy. He paid no attention to the words said and prayed to God that this thing would ended quickly, so he could go back to their inn and rest—that is until the boy came out.

“And here is our Circus Boy! The Chained Magician!”

The boy suddenly appeared at the center of the ring, long clanging metal chains attached to both his legs. It was not until the boy’s stage lifted higher from the rest of the ring could JinYoung see him clearly. The crowd turned silent for a while, and the boy raised his hands, suddenly the chains on his legs started shaking, causing the crowd to coo in curiosity of what was to come next. Suddenly, a bunch of performers wearing the same stage outifts entered from one side of the ring and circled the boy. There were more than twenty of them, and they were carrying a bow on their left hands and an arrow grasped within their right hands. On top of that, they were aiming towards the circus boy. JinYoung’s eyes widened in horror.

‘What are they going to do? Are they going to try slaughtering him?’

The boy looked around JinYoung’s age, perhaps a little older. His jet black hair was a bit too long and the bangs covered half of his face. He looked trained with all the muscles on his arms, though he looked a little bit skinny, a bit unsuiting for his appearance, and also worn out. JinYoung was gaping his mouth open as the archers shot their arrows towards the boy. But what made him shivered in horror was not the fact that they really shot the boy, but the fact that the so called ‘Chained Magician’ had stopped the arrows mid air and let it float there still. The loud cheering was definitely louder than before, but JinYoung had no time to mind about the noise assaulting his ears, as he was too busy staring at the boy who slowly began moving his hands around, making the arrows circling him. JinYoung could not believe his eyes. The boy stopped the arrow and then he controlled it? Then it must be true. He must be possessed by some kind of spirit. But that didn’t scare him. On the contrary, there was something about him that made JinYoung lose track of everything else all of a sudden.

But the most astonishing thing about The Chained Magician was his eyes. JinYoung didn’t notice it at first, but when the wind blew the ring, and the boy’s bangs lifted, JinYoung could see a tiny bright light from the corner of the boy’s left eye shining and the next thing the next thing that happened was the boy’s eyes changed color. And he was lifted from the ground, the chains grew longer letting him float towards the peak of the tent. But when he reached the mid-point between the ground and the peak of the tent, the chains stopped him and he was floating there. Flying, with no wire whatsoever, and the arrows circling his body. And JinYoung realized there is no way something human can do these things. He must be possessed by some kind of spirit.

“… and that’s the end of our performance! Goodnight folks, and come back to our upcoming show!”

“Come on, JinYoung, let’s go,” JiMin’s voice said suddenly in his ear.

JinYoung looked around, and saw people already queue up to leave the tent, and when he averted his gaze to the circus ring, it was already empty. The boy was already gone. As he got up, he wondered how much time had passed unnoticed.

When JinYoung settled on his bed, he couldn’t fall asleep. Maybe it was the unfamiliar bed. JinYoung was never able to sleep soundly when he wasn’t on his bed. Or maybe it was the flashes of the show earlier today. The beaming light from the boy’s eyes. The way his hands moved in sync with the arrows around him, the was him floating in the air inhumanely. People said that he was possessed and was able to possess objects with his power, but JinYoung couldn’t help but frowned at the statement. If anything, the boy looked angelic. His mind made up the images of the boy looking weary and tired, as he stared right at JinYoung. And JinYoung just couldn’t shake the boy out of his mind.

In the morning, he had to accompany JiMin going through the market place (again), because the they didn’t get to see all of the market yesterday. And JiMin, being the girl she was, visited every single store stall to pick some local accessories and handmade clothes. JinYoung trailed behind her, stopping by some loot-store to buy some small weapon. He had to thank JiMin for dragging him further enough inside the market, allowing him to find the right place to buy arrow-heads and a new bow-string. Although JinYoung didn’t really enjoy shopping, spending some time looking through various of weapons cheered him up. And it was always interesting for him to watch as his sister bargain for a cheaper price. She was so awesome, most of the shopkeeper gave her a really low price. That way, the money they saved up in their hometown didn’t go to waste as they got themselves a really good bargain.

Time passed by so quickly and it was way past noon. JinYoung panicked when he couldn’t spot JiMin beside him, and it turned out the girl was walking down the street, where there were plenty of food stalls. JinYoung hated it when his sister left him there, cause it might be dangerous for her to be alone in an unknown area. And being a protective sibling he is, JinYoung dashed towards her. “Hey! Where the hell did you think you’re going?!”

He was sure JiMin was saying something but his attention was soon diverted to a familiar huge tent down the road. They had been here before. Yesterday. And that huge tent was the circus’ venue. He wasn’t so interested, but then he caught an image of a familiar boy walking towards a smaller tent outside the huge tent, along with some other perform