A heavy scent filled the air, wafting into Kai’s sensitive nose and causing the male to wake up in panic. He sniffed again, drawing in the pungent odor particles, and then immediately shook Kyungsoo awake. “We have to leave,” the taller man said while the traveler yawned loudly, his arms stretching behind him.

“W-why?” Kyungsoo yawned again, causing him to stutter as he spoke.

“No time to explain. Just help me pack up so we can get out of here.”

The traveler was wide awake now, looking at Kai with concern since the other male seemed extremely unsettled as he quickly rolled up their blankets and bedrolls before stuffing them into Kyungsoo’s backpack. He obediently began dismantling the tent while Kai cleaned up the rest of the campsite so that it would seem as if they had never been there. Once all of their belongings were packed up, the place looked serene and untouched by humans.

Kai promptly transformed back into his chimera form so that they could hightail it out of the area much more quickly. He padded through the forest at a brisk pace, unable to fly since the branches of nearby trees were too low-hanging and he didn’t want Kyungsoo getting hurt. If it had just been him, the chimera would’ve torn through the foliage as if it were paper, but that wasn’t the case so he focused on weaving deftly through the winding section of the forest they were currently in.

Kyungsoo didn’t try to make conversation with Kai as he usually did, since the supernatural creature was much tenser and more serious than he usually was. Even though he was lost and confused as to why they were in such a hurry, Kyungsoo trusted the chimera to safely lead him. He absentmindedly the goat’s velvety ears and the dragon’s smooth neck while gazing around the vast forest that was buzzing with life with various animals scurrying around as they usually did in the mornings.

The traveler found that one of the reasons he loved this forest so much was because of how it seemed peaceful at all times. The melodious chirping of various birds and the soft whoosh of the gentle breeze made Kyungsoo feel like he was in a magical forest wonderland, especially after knowing that the dryads diligently kept watch over the plant life. This forest was definitely one of the nicest places he had ever traveled to since he had first begun treasure-hunting.

It also helped that this was the place he had found and gotten to know Kai.

And then a black crystal shard zinged past Kyungsoo’s ear, alerting the traveler that there was trouble afoot. Right after, a piercing whinny filled the air and Kyungsoo turned around in trepidation to see Dark Pegasus hot on their trail. “We’re being chased!”

“I know,” Kai’s lion head growled as the chimera began bounding forward at a much faster pace. “Hold on tight!”

He didn’t have to tell Kyungsoo twice. The traveler instantly flattened himself against the creature’s back and securely wrapped his fists around tufts of golden fur. He was too scared to look back at the winged horse, but the neighs of Dark Pegasus steadily grew louder. More crystal shards zipped over his head and a few of them punctured the chimera’s leathery wings, causing the dragon head to bellow with pain. “Kai!”

“I’m fine, little one,” the dragon head hissed while his wings folded downwards against the lion body’s sides. “But I don’t know if I’ll be able to fly us out of here, especially since Pegasus is fast in the air as well.”

“What should we do then?”

All three of Kai’s faces grimaced as the chimera’s low voices echoed, “I’ll have to fight it off if we’re to have any chance of escaping. But I can’t do that with you on my back.”

Kyungsoo nodded in understanding. “Got it.” The chimera skidded to a halt and angled his body away from Dark Pegasus so Kyungsoo could safely swing off of the supernatural creature. The traveler landed squarely on the mossy forest floor, his backpack hanging off of his shoulders.

“Now run!” Kai commanded with his lion head while a burst of flames shot from his dragon head.

“I’m not leaving you!” Kyungsoo shouted indignantly.

The chimera could only huff in exasperation at the traveler’s foolish stubbornness, since the crazy winged horse was quickly advancing with its jagged black wings splayed outwards. The lion head roared and the goat head bleated in anger, pointing the snake head tail towards Dark Pegasus so it could projectile spit dark purple venom at the horse-like creature. But the attack did nothing as Dark Pegasus formed a black crystal barrier around itself with its rock-hard wings. Thick black smoke billowed from the dragon head’s large round nostrils and his ruby red eyes glowed brightly, images of bright red-orange flames flickering in the irises.

While the barrier around Dark Pegasus disintegrated into fine black mineral dust, Kai drew up his broad chest as he prepared himself to unleash a mighty flamethrower that would hopefully damage the winged horse enough for the chimera to escape from this part of the forest with Kyungsoo. He could feel the fire swirl in the pit of his belly and tendrils of the growing fire escaped from between his toothy jaws. The dragon head opened his mouth wide to let the hot flames explode in the deranged winged horse’s direction. In retaliation, Dark Pegasus shot another storm of sharp stones from its wings at the chimera.

One particularly large crystal shard slashed against the chimera’s soft underbelly, causing Kai to falter. The flamethrower from his dragon mouth was thrown off course and hit Kyungsoo instead of Dark Pegasus to Kai’s horror.

Kyungsoo writhed on the floor, his left arm throbbing with intense pain from the magical flames. He had never felt such a powerful searing sensation before and it was like his arm was alight with the fire of a thousand suns. His blood burned while his skin felt raw and tender, peeling away in repulsive flakes. The traveler howled loudly while tears streamed from his shut eyes, feeling so overwhelmed by the excruciating pain.

Kai stood still, stunned that he had accidentally burned the innocent man he was in love with. He could only gape as Kyungsoo thrashed about, the high-pitched screams bleeding into the chimera’s six ears. He felt his blood turn to ice as the shock of the situation kept him frozen in place.

But then, a sharp whinny from Dark Pegasus jolted Kai from his trance and his goat head immediately clamped onto the back of Kyungsoo’s shirt. His dragon wings, even though they were full of holes, immediately took flight. With the squirming injured traveler hanging from the goat head, the chimera burst through the canopy of tree leaves and flew away as fast as he possibly could with his mutilated wings. He soon spotted a roaring waterfall and dipped back down through the thick foliage, making sure that Kyungsoo was tucked against the creature’s body so that he wouldn’t be impaled by the tree branches, before landing in a heap on the dusty forest floor.

Kai’s goat head gently released the traveler onto the ground before the chimera shape-shifted into his human form. “Kyungsoo!” he cried out, hands hovering over the burned male who was and groaning loudly as the intense blazing sensation continued destroying his arm. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Oh gods, what do we do?!”

“I—It’s not—not your f-fault,” Kyungsoo answered through gritted teeth, his smooth forehead beading with sticky sweat. “Hand—hand me t-the first—first aid kit,” he gasped out as his face turned chalky white and his breathing shortened.

“R-right,” Kai stammered, quickly pulling the hefty backpack off of Kyungsoo’s thin shoulders and ping it so he could dig around for the rectangular plastic box that had saved his life several months ago. The flustered male found some burn ointment which he immediately began applying to the wounded arm and then loosely wrapped some fresh bandages over the burned arm. Any time Kyungsoo yowled in pain, Kai would flinch and splutter in panic, “O-oh no, I—I’m h-hurting you. I’m s-so sorry.”

It took much longer than it should have to bandage Kyungsoo’s burns, thanks to Kai’s jumpiness and trembling hands. The taller male laid out Kyungsoo’s bedroll and tucked the man between a handful of thick blankets while trying not to aggravate the traveler’s wounded arm. “Kai, I’ll be okay,” Kyungsoo said, shooting his companion a tired grin and holding up a thumbs-up so that Kai wouldn’t worry so much. “It’s just a small burn. It’ll heal up in a few weeks.”

“I could’ve killed you though!” Kai burst out, frenzied and loathing every bit of himself at the moment. “You could’ve died because of me!”

“But I didn’t,” Kyungsoo answered cheerfully. His arm still stung from the sensation of the blazing flames, but he knew that guilt was eating away at Kai’s conscience right now. He hated seeing the other man look so downcast and frantic, so the traveler silently bore the pain as best as he could. “I’ll be right as rain after some sleep, so stop blaming yourself, okay?”

Kai’s lips tightened into a straight line as he watched Kyungsoo’s eyelids slowly droop and the injured male fell fast asleep. His hands wrung behind his back as he paced back and forth for several minutes. He then crouched down beside Kyungsoo and briefly pressed his lips against the sleeping traveler’s forehead before standing up again.

--

The familiar twittering of birds woke Kyungsoo up and he yawned lazily, about to stretch his arms as he usually did when a shooting pain traveled through his burned left arm. He grunted, having forgotten that he was injured, and gingerly used his right arm to push himself up into a sitting position. The exhaustion from the previous day’s encounter with Dark Pegasus had allowed his deep sleep to be undisturbed for the entire afternoon and night. But it was also a bit unsettling to wake up to the lack of Kai’s familiar, comforting warmth. He couldn’t remember the last time he had woken up without the attractive tall man’s strong arms around him. “Kai? Where are you?” Kyungsoo called out, his tone tinged with hesitation.

But there was only silence.

Kyungsoo’s chest constricted as his large owlish eyes searched for any trace of Kai around the empty campsite. Any indicator, any sign, just anything that would tell him the other man was here with him. But there was none.

Kai had abandoned him without even saying goodbye.

♈♈♈