What is love?

Kai didn’t know. For a long time he had never cared. He doesn’t know what love is, but he felt the hole it left in his Soul. He felt as if he had loved and lost but was unable to say what it actually meant. What was it that he was missing so much that he felt an eternity between one breath and another? Why was he waking up in the middle of the night desperately searching for something he doesn’t know? Why did he feel like ants were crawling under his skin every waking moment so much so that he rode into battle with no rest? Why did he feel the crushing weight of loneliness despite wearing the crown of a country that adored him?

“Jongin…” he heard the faint whisper of a name he knew was his.

Kai opened his bloodshot eyes once more to a new dawn he hated. He swayed like a drunk for a minute and felt the urge to scratch his arms yet again.

_____

“If you are half the doctor you claimed to be, my son wouldn’t walk around like he is corpse.” The ex-king of the demons demanded.

“There is nothing I can do my lord. The curse was broken with the death of Suho and as with the past cases, the surviving partner, in our case the emperor and each one of us forgot about the person who cast the spell. But there is no record of the side effects of the curse being broken.”

“What is it to say that you cooked it up? Maybe my son is afflicted by madness and you are just making up this whole story of a human king called Suho?”

Lay sighed. For all reality, the demon lord could be right. But he doubted he would go to the extent of dating and maintaining medical records in such detail if it were not real.

“My medical journal and records are the only source we have currently. I would rather believe them than the emperor’s madness.”

Siown threw the goblet of wine hard on the wall. The wine trickled down the intricate flower patterns on the wall.

Lay wondered how much he can reveal, but then threw caution to the wind as there was nothing much to save his neck anymore.

“There is one person who can help us though.”

“Who?”

“Sehun… “

“What has that brat got to do with this?”

“My notes taken during the last day of the battle with the human kingdom, there was something I had noted about overhearing a conversation between Suho and Sehun. I investigated further and found that Suho’s mother had cast the same spell that Suho had cast on Sehun’s father. We very well know that the current lord of the underworld, Sehun’s father is alive. If we can talk to Sehun’s father, we might be able to understand more about the side effects of breaking the curse.”

Siwon sat down finally with hope. And then frowned for Sehun has not been seen in a while. It was unlike the brat not to come down to the demon land just to annoy him no end. It was even less likely that he would stay away from his dear friend this long. He suspected Lay was not telling him everything but that was not important. If Sehun had an answer to his son’s plight, then Sehun must be found.

The doors to his court room opened and the chief general walked in wearily.

“Lord, if I might have a word please.”

Siwon looked up, already guessing why he was there but nodded anyway.

“The matter is my lord, we have been asked by the emperor to get ready for battle again. As you know, this is the 8^th time in 10 moons…”

Siwon sighed, “I know the army is tired. I will talk to my son.”

The general shifted from one foot to another.

“Actually lord, it’s not that. The problem is slightly different now.”

“What is it?”

“The last time we rode out, none of our usual enemies wanted to engage. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find suitable enemies and king Yifan has closed the borders of his land for the time being. The emperor was upset last time when we couldn’t find a suitable enemy to fight. I just wanted to let you know that the emperor is set to be disappointed this time too.”

Siwon shook his head in frustration. He wondered what he did to earn this fate. Why can’t he have normal problems of a retired emperor like famine or war or floods?

“Find that brat now!”

___

Yifan looked at the curiously empty throne on his left once again. He felt like he was forgetting something. But for the life of him, he couldn’t remember what it was. In fact no one in his court could actually say who or what was missing. A type of melancholy had fallen across the land slowly but no one could explain why. Not really knowing what to do, priests have been brought in to do strange prayers, but is there a cure for sadness really?

Yifan had closed the borders of the land and had earnestly started on rebuilding and fortifying long neglected cities, forts, dams and anything that will keep his people and himself engaged. He heard that emperor Kai was spoiling for a fight, but he was not in the mood for war.

“Lord Yifan!”

“Huh? Yes?”

“We found a mysterious room in the barracks. It looks abandoned for a while now. But it had these items.”

The soldier presented a tray with three items on it. Yifan looked at the first item, a seal of the royal court’s highest rank, the king’s seal but not his own, a red sash that for some reason reminded Yifan of a blindfold and a small empty wooden case. Yifan looked at the red velvet indentation inside the box and then slowly pulled out the hour glass he had with him always. It was a perfect match.

---

“So, is this what death means?”

Two figures sat on top of the tallest watch tower. The taller one was silver haired and the shorter one had red hair.

“Not really. For a death demon, it’s more a beginning.”