The Beginning of the End (1/2)
Awoken in a Distant Land
[Chunji’s PoV]
Hours later, I woke to the rising sun, my head now lying in L.Joe’s lap. I looked at his face from the angle I was laying, even from down here it looked as handsome as ever, however, I can’t let my thoughts drift that way…I have to stay focused on the horror heading towards my people…my family…my friends. I let my eyes follow L.Joe’s gaze to the other side of the meadow, there the trees were on fire, signaling that they were almost here.
“L.Joe, call the dragons…” I said, sitting up, “Also, help me get the others up.”
He nodded, “Alright…”
The two of us walked to where the others were, waking them all up; however, they weren’t getting up quick enough. I sighed, looking up at the flames heading in our direction.
“L.Joe make sure to get them up…I’m going to buy us some time…”
He looked at me in worry, but nodded, going back to the job of waking the others.
When I got to the wall of flames, I looked back at L.Joe who had finally gotten the others up and was now looking back at me and headed straight towards the flame, easily passing through it into the now hell-ish like environment where the light of the sun didn’t reach because it was hidden behind the cloud of darkness looming over head. I took three steps into what the new world could possibly be and stopped staring at the large army of undead soldiers. Finally noticing that I was holding my breath, I inhaled allowing the smoke filled air to enter my lungs and cause them to feel like they were on fire. I focused on the whole area around me, closing my eyes I let the powers that I’ve kept locked inside me out, when I opened my eyes a wall of light stood tall behind me, reaching high into the hidden sky, there was no way it was going to go down anytime soon. I stepped farther into the burnt and land that was in ruins, off in the distance I could see that the once majestic mountains of the gods was cloaked in darkness.
I turned my attention back to the millions of demons heading my way, heading towards the light. Only wishing to turn their dreams of having darkness consume the world become a reality, a reality I must prevent, that we must prevent.
“Chunji!” called my lover.
I turned around, not being able to force a smile towards him and the others because what was there to smile about when some this horrible was heading towards your home, your family, better yet your people who are innocent bystanders of this horrid war?
“Is it really that bad?” asked L.Joe, standing behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his chin on my shoulder.
I nodded, “Can’t you see them?”
“All I can see is a massive black cloud heading our way…” said L.Joe.
I looked at him, “Then you do see what we are up against…”
“Young masters, what should we do?” Asked one of the many dragons that stood behind us, they stood tall, towering over us immortals.
“We should start our attack…” I said, looking back towards the battle field, “Fire dragons set up a defensive line by the wall, use the fire they send at the wall as a protective field around the wall. Make sure it continues to stand…once it is down the darkness will be able to spread father and farther across the land, once that happens…I-it’ll be over for us all and my people. Water and Light dragons, start your attack, since they are weakest towards your powers. Air and Earth, try to push the clouds back, because if we can manage to push their forces back far enough it’ll buy L.Joe and I time to get through their forces and to the Devil…”
The Dragons nodded and flew off quickly; going straight into the jobs they were given.
“Chunji, what are we to do now?” asked Sunggyu, the others who were standing beside him nodded.
I looked at them, “We fight…that’s all that we can do…”
They nodded.
“Cecile and Minji, you two stay and help the fire dragons near the wall…right now your powers aren’t that much help to us…” I said, they nodded in understanding, knowing that it was true, “Cecile, keep Minji safe, also, you two have the most important job of them all, see to it that the wall stays up…”
The two smiled, giving me the thumbs up. I pulled away from L.Joe and finally faced the others, “Sunggyu, Sungyeol, Sungjong, Niel, CAP, Myungsoo, Woohyun, you start with the attack, make a hole in their offense for L.Joe and I to get through.”
They nodded, I turned my attention to the ones who remained, “Hoya, Dongwoo, Hyunseong, Jeongmin, Minwoo, Donghyun, Changjo, Ricky, provide defense and back up for them…”
They nodded, smiling at me; I then looked at L.Joe, and said, “You already know what we must do…”
He nodded, and force a smile out.
“Let’s get going…” I said, they nodded, the fifteen of us walked farther and farther into the hell like environment, knowing not knowing what exactly was heading our way in that horrid cloud that had random streaks of blue and yellow in it from the dragons that were already starting the attack.
I looked at them as we stood in front of the black fog, and turned around, saying, “I don’t know what is to come, but what I can say is…I’m pretty sure there is a good chance that not all of us will live to see light again…”
The others nodded.
“Even knowing this, let’s try our best, that way millions of other people are safe to live in the light…” I said.
“Let’s.” said the others agreeing.
I then took a deep breath…this was it…it was the beginning of the end of this ongoing war. This is the thing that decides which is weaker light, or darkness. This is the thing that determines how my people will be treated…
I looked at L.Joe, seeing his determination gave me the boost I needed, the silent encourage that I was secretly begging for. I let out the breath and stepped into the dark cloud automatically reaching out for L.Joe’s hand, not even the lights of the dragons showed up through the thick darkness and I was once again taken over by worry. What if this is how the battle would be? What if we were killed without being able to see who our murder is?
I soon felt another hand grip mine tightly and the worry faded away, I knew that this wasn’t the end of the world, but the beginning of a new one that I’d live to see grow. As we took more steps forward, the darkness grew thicker and it was a little difficult to breathe, a little suffocating, the air felt cold to my skin…to my lungs. My heart was pounding in my chest and ears. They had expanded hell onto the main land somehow.
I felt L.Joe’s grip on my hand slowly weaken and I knew while my body was taking it in and growing stronger it was weakening his. Soon my hands fell numb, but despite the numbness I kept a tight grip on L.Joe’s hand, knowing that I was supplying him with some powers, supplying him with strength that was keeping him alive. I knew that if I let go now I’d never see him again…I’d never get to relax in his embrace again…I’d never get to kiss him again.
“L.Joe…s-stay strong…” I said, my teeth chattering from the numbing cold, the words echoed through the darkness that surrounded us and the only response I got back was a grown of pain, “Sunggyu? Sungyeol? Niel? Guys?”
This time my calls went unanswered and my heart stopped beating as I sharply inhaled, where were they? Why weren’t they answering me? I glanced around, darkness had consumed me, but where were the others?
“L-L.J-Joe…” I stuttered out, as the air around us got colder and I couldn’t control the tremors that passed through my legs, causing me to collapse on the ground, taking L.Joe down with me. I laid there on the ground, feeling the dirt below me, despite the numbness.
Through the silence I could hear L.Joe’s short, shallow breaths. I reached out for him, pulling him closer despite the darkness around us, using my power over fire to warm my body up, and in turn warming his up too. I held him close, staring into the darkness ahead of us, around us. I didn’t know it then, but I was letting tears of worry, despair, and helplessness out. To think that this had happened…We were supposed to save my people, my family, and all my friends that were still in the capital and somehow the two of us ended up in this mess…I felt faint, so, I closed my eyes for a second, or so I thought.
[3rd Person PoV]
~With Sunggyu and the others~
Chunji looked at the boys who stood behind him as they all stood in front of the black fog, and turned around, saying, “I don’t know what is to come, but what I can say is…I’m pretty sure there is a good chance that not all of us will live to see light again…”
The other boys, both older and younger, nodded.
“Even knowing this, let’s try our best, that way millions of other people are safe to live in the light…” said Chunji.
“Let’s.” said the others agreeing.
They all took in deep breaths, Chunji and L.Joe entered the fog first, leaving the others to follow. They all looked at each other and took deep breaths, joining hands, fearing that they’d get separated in the darkness. They all stepped into the black cloud, only to get surrounded by the purple/black mist (AN: please note the different colors, it’s a rather big part in this…) as soon as they stepped in their bones where chilled with freezing cold air, however, they pushed through the numbness and continued to walk, knowing that it was the only way to end all of this and soon just as sudden as it got dark and freezing, it got hot and bright.
The boys blinked as their eyes adjusted to the bright lights from the fiery walls of hell as they passed through it. Soon that extreme brightness faded, and revealed them to be on a cliff, standing on a dirt path. The boys glanced around, hearing the roar of the battle, they looked up into the sky, and it was black and every now and then was lit up purple, yellow, and blue. The looked behind them, and saw the great wall of fire and behind it was the cold, dark wall.
They then looked in front of them again, walking towards the edge of the cliff, the looked down, seeing the rivers were full of lava instead of water and they spotted all the other guardians, who had left the city earlier to set up protective walls, fighting off the undead creatures of hell.
“We should go help them…” said Woohyun, however, Sunggyu wasn’t paying attention and was looking around in worry.
“Sunggyu?” said Myungsoo; he looked at the taller male beside him, to see that both he and Sunggyu kept glancing around.
“Sunggyu,” called the older male’s lover once again, finally breaking the older from his trance.
“Chunji and L.Joe should’ve gotten here before us…” whispered Sunggyu, despite it being a whisper it rang in the other’s ears as if he had yelled it.
Woohyun was the first to recover, “Still, he’d want us to attack them…he’d want us to keep them from getting to the wall…”
Sunggyu also recovered, “You are right…” He turned to the younger boys, who all were staring at Woohyun and him like they were crazy, “We have to fight you guys…even though Chunji and L.Joe didn’t come through the wall yet, they are probably fine because we all know that they can take care of themselves…Chunji gave us a job and that was prevent the demons from getting any closer to the wall…”
“We have to do this job…we have to fight.” Said Woohyun, “If we don’t they’ll get to the wall and destroy it…and with destroying the wall, they’ll push closer to the capitol and eventually that will fall into ruins because of them too…that is, if we don’t stop them now…We have to stop them now or all of that training would be for nothing…”
The other boys nodded in understanding, they all walked to the edge and jumped down, the first attack was sent from Sunggyu towards the demon that had gone to attack the already wounded Eunhyuk, who had previously fallen on the ground.
As they landed, they noticed the five gods fighting alongside the guardians Changmin turned towards them and smiled, saying, “It’s about time you guys got here…”
The younger guardians and nodded, and began to fight alongside their elders and mentors, they pushed through the demons, with all of them together and working well together, they were wiping out a lot of them, however, they still had over two thirds of the enemies left and their strength was decreasing rather quickly because of the heat and massive amounts they had to use, however, they all pushed through the exhaustion all because of one reason.
Their world would end if they did not win, all the sacrifices they’ve made and all the things they were fighting for would disappear, and not one of them liked the thought of that.
~At the wall of light~
Cecile stood silently beside the head red dragon while Minji was pacing back and forwards.
“I don’t see why we are left here like this…” said Minji, “Why we are left out of all that action, I don’t understand it…”
Cecile stayed silent letting the younger rant about it.
“It’s unfair, yeah, our powers are useless, but we could still fight!” said Minji, she glared at Cecile, “Why do you choose now to be quiet?! Why did you just agree with him?”
“Minji, you should be happy that we got the most important job…” said Cecile.
“I don’t care about it being the most important job, it’s boring!” said the girl, pouting.
“Then let us entertain you,” Said an unfamiliar voice from behind Minji, who spun around and faced the two sliver haired people standing before her. Cecile however, stood up straight looking at the two with wide eyes.
“Minji get away from them!” called Cecile, glaring straight at the two.
“Why should she get away from us? We aren’t the person who betrayed our people, or very own father…” said the sliver haired male, smiling widely, seeing that he was getting the best of the younger girl.
“Cecile?” said Minji kind of confused, she looked at the girl who was glaring at the two of them.
Cecile didn’t answer; she glared at the two who stood behind her best friend.
“You haven’t told her, better yet them about your family?” said the boy, placing a hand where his heart should be, “Wow, dongseang that hurts…”
“I’m not your sister!” hissed Cecile, her eyes glowing blood red as her anger reached its peak.
“Yes you are…” said the boy, “You are an angel of Death and the Devils daughter, no matter how much you deny it, you are.”
Minji looked at Cecile in shock, but just as soon as she turned towards Cecile, she was flung to the side by the sliver haired female, who had been silent to this point, she looked at Minji, who was sitting up slowly, holding a hand over the cut on her shoulder from the sliver haired female’s claws. The girl said, “Stay out of this you little girl…this fight doesn’t concern a weakling like you.”
Minji growled, but just as soon as she got onto her feet she was on the ground again, this time holding a wound on her side.
“Don’t you know how to listen?” asked the sliver haired girl.
“LEAVE HER OUT OF THIS!” hissed Cecile, “Lane, Leo, your business is with me, not her, not them…ME.”
The two looked at her.
“Oh, how bold…to think that this was the girl the weak girl who was nearly killed by father years ago is just amazing…she grown so much…NOT!” said Lane, laughing.
Cecile’s eye narrowed more and the next thing Minji saw was Cecile tackle the older, taller female while the male watched the two fighting in amusement.
~In the Capitol’s Castle~
Leeteuk stared out of the window in the throne room worriedly, he rested his hand on the cool glass, basking in the little bit of sunlight that was left. His eyes looked over the land, only to see the cloud of darkness hiding everything behind this wall of light, he could feel that something was off, that something was horribly off and it involved his son. He looked out over the land with sad eyes, sniffing and wiping away tears that had fallen down his cheek, to think that they were almost at world’s end.
“All the civilians are hidden in the bunkers…” said the king, walking to his wife, wrapping his arms around his wife and resting his chin on the male’s shoulder, he looked at the cloud that his crying wife was looking at, he watched as it lit up purple, then blue, then yellow, then turned black again.
“Can you feel it?” whispered Leeteuk, through his silent tears.
“Feel what?” asked Kangin.
“The feeling in your gut that something is horribly wrong…weither it’s one of the others or our son, can you feel it?” whispered Leeteuk, his hands resting on his husbands on his waist.
“I can’t feel it in my gut, but I can sense that something went wrong, that we’ve somehow fallen into one of their traps…” whisper Kangin, “There is this horrible sense of doom…”
Leeteuk nodded, watching as the last bit of sunlight faded from the land, leaving it in complete and total darkness, the only light coming from the battle with in the cloud that had consumed the sun and the wall blocking the cloud from coming any closer to the capitol.
“We all are doomed aren’t we?” whispered Leeteuk, “This time the great won’t end in our victory will it?”
The king kissed his lover’s head and whispered into his ear, “The only time a warrior truly loses is when they lose hope and give up…because it truly results in the end of the warrior’s life. We may be sensing the incoming doom, but we can still feel hopeful…because those who are battling in that hell-ish environment are there not because they choose to be, but because they know they have to be…they know that in order to keep the people they love safe, they have to fight. They have to it up and take the pain, they have to pull through the exhaustion, and fight in some of the worst fighting conditions…They know they have to do all of this while stay optimistic, or else all hope will be lost…That’s why we have to keep our faith in them strong, because once they are gone, they are gone and it’s the end for us…for our people.”
[L.Joe’s PoV]
“He’s pretty wounded Siwon…” muttered a voice, it sounded distant, but it was reaching my ears. However, that voice it not the one I want to hear. It’s not Chunji’s.
I went to swallow, but ended up choking, my throat was entirely too dry and I didn’t like it. I felt someone press something to my lips and I flinched away.
“Relax, it’s just a water bottle, why would I hurt one of my fellow guardians?” asked the man, pressing the bottle to my lips again, I opened my parched lips and allowed him to pour a little bit of water into my lips, “Are you ok?”
I nodded weakly and began to open my eyes slowly; last I remember was that I was trapped in the cold and darkness with Chunji, holding his hand tightly. However, now I’m in the light and Chunji isn’t anywhere near me, I sat up quickly, looking around the room in a panic, seeing the walls of flames surround me and the two other men in the room, both of which were severely bruised, I looked at the two.
“Where is Chunji?” I asked, forcing myself up onto trembling legs, “Where am I?”
The long haired man pushed me back down onto the blankets he had me resting on before, “This is hell my friend…I’m the water Guardian Heechul…”
I furrowed my eye brows together, “Wait we’re in hell?”
He nodded.
“Last I remember I was up in the surface…” I said, my head hurt greatly, but I kept quiet about it, because I was too busy panicking about where Chunji is.
“You were, however, when you and the prince stepped into the darkness, you somehow passed into the darkness that led you two straight through the gates of Hell, where the devil was waiting for you two expectantly…” said Heechul.
“How’d we get out?” I asked, “And you never did tell me where Chunji is…”
Heechul looked me in the eye, “Chunji dragged you out, he was nearly dragging himself out as well…also, Chunji is in a higher level of the castle and the boy is in grave, grave danger…”
I looked at him, standing myself up right again.
“You need to rest,” Said Heechul, “You are too weak to be walking around!”
I looked back at him, “No, I can’t…not when I know that my lover and the only person who is able to end all of this is in danger!”
Heechul looked at me in shock as I walked around the room, standing in the fire, looking for the way out of the room. I smiled finally spotting the empty arch way that was hidden because of the flames.
“Wow, they really are stupid down here…” I said.
“What do you mean?” asked Heechul.
I looked back at him and said, “The doorway is a simple archway that is hidden by flames…” I then stepped farther into the flames again, “I’ll be back…”
“Wait, just get us out of here now and we’ll help you…he is our prince after all,” Said Heechul.
I looked at him through the flames that I just stepped out of and I said, “He’s more than just a prince to me…” I hit the switch that was near the archway, making the flames vanish. I looked at Heechul and the man beside him, “Are you two coming or not?”
“We are coming…and don’t worry, we’ll save Chunji.” Said Heechul, smiling as he flicked the switch back on, since he was the last out and we had to make it seem like we were there still.
“The room they’re keeping him is the Devil’s thrown room, it’s on the top floor of the palace, so all we need to worry about is getting up these stairs.” Said the man in front the Heechul, he’s a demon like Cecile…I think. (AN: To bad earlier in this chapter it was revealed that she isn’t actually a demon but the devil’s child…Hahaha…comic relief (?) here! :P) As we stepped onto the tall staircase one thought ran through my mind, and somehow I actually smiled…
Chunji I’m coming to save you…I’m coming so we can end all of this once and for all…
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