Burn
WitchcraftWitchcraft burn
”Kibum!” someone shouts and Kibum looks up from his book and gets eye contact with a young man his age.
“What?” he asks and the other man smiles wide as he hands Kibum a piece of paper.
“Mom says there’s a new job on the outskirts of Vrarc.”
Kibum grabs the piece of paper and the man sits down on the arm rest and leans over Kibum’s shoulder so he can read. Kibum lets his eyes scan the paper and sighs a little. A small group of Chaosarrow witches have been spotted on the outskirts of Vrarc.
Vrarc is a day-travel from where he lives in the Pyulm forest with his family. He looks at the man beside him and sends him a small smirk.
“When are we leaving?”
The man snatches the paper back and takes another look at it. When he looks up he gets eye contact with Kibum and the two men smile wide.
“I don’t know but hopefully soon,” the other man says and before Kibum gets to say anything a woman enters the room with a small boy at the age of 6 by her side.
“Minho? Kibum?” she says and the boys on the chair turns around to face her. The small boy at her side lights up in a wide grin and shows off the front teeth he’s missing. “You are going to be alone on this one. I don’t expect them to be very strong.”
The face of the small boy beside him falls at the news of his brothers going alone.
“Can’t I come?” he asks in a small voice. Kibum leaves Minho on the arm chair and goes to his younger brother.
“Hey Taem, buddy, we’ll go fight the witches when you’re big and brave, okay?”
“I am big and brave,” the boy mutters and Kibum sends him a wide smile that has the boy smiling a little as well.
“Of course! Silly me! When your front teeth come back, then we’ll go fight the witches together, okay?”
Taemin spends a couple of seconds thinking and then nods. He reaches a hand out towards Kibum, pinky finger held out in a promise. Kibum links his own pinky with the boys and promises that they will go hunt witches. Taemin hurries off to find their mother who is now talking to Minho about the details.
Chaosarrow witches have never been difficult to kill despite their name. Their magic is weak compared to the other clans but they are the majority of witches found in and around Vrarc and Kibum has killed his fair share of them since he started hunting with Minho and their father at the age of 8.
Kibum was adopted by the Qitas couple at the age of 7. He grew up at an orphanage in the city of Yeeteka. The orphanage had been old and the employees hadn’t cared much about the children. Kibum knew for a fact that his childhood friend Woohyun had gone into the city to when he’d been thrown out at the age of 16 where he had had to stay homeless.
The Qitas couple had saved him from the same fate and for that he was them eternally grateful. They had a son, Minho, on Kibum’s age and the two had grown up to do everything together. They had learned how to hunt witches together, studying weaponry and witchcraft together in the large library.
Kibum had hated witchcraft but their father had demanded he knew what he was up against. His upbringing had left him with a deep-rooted hatred for the witches.
Minho laughs next to him from his black stallion and Kibum rolls his eyes. Kibum sets his mare in motion and gallops down the street. Minho shouts a hey after him and Kibum laughs from in front of him. They have a long travel before them. Vrarc is a larger city south of the Pyulm forest.
The Qitas have been living in the forest as long as Kibum can remember. His mother considers it a better place to practice hunting methods but Kibum suspects she just doesn’t like Yeeteka or Vrarc.
He slows down after a mile and Minho catches up to him soon after. The two young men ride through the forest on the beaten path towards the main road that connects Vrarc and Jiorora to the East.
They ride in silence for a few miles before Minho starts talking. Minho was never fond of silence for too long. It makes him anxious and he becomes conscious of time and that is only strengthening his anxiety. Kibum lets him talk. He knows he doesn’t have to answer and he likes to just listen to nature. Nature tells him everything he needs to know about dangers and Kibum is good at listening to nature.
They hit the main road an hour later when the sun is highest on the sky. A salesman is struggling with his carriage and he turns towards the two men at the sound of hooves on the dirt. A dirty smile lights up on his face and Kibum frowns a little.
“Hey good men,” he says as they come closer. Kibum gets eye contact with Minho and Minho nods curtly.
“Could you help me?” the salesman asks as they are in front of him. Neither of the young men on horseback say anything as they ride passed him, ignoring him completely.
Kibum has an odd feeling as they pass and one look at Minho lets him know that Minho can feel it too. It’s their intuition that doesn’t let them stop but as Kibum looks back a few minutes later and sees the man with a long knife, he thanks their intuition and starts galloping forward. Minho follows with a raised eyebrow and only when they are far away does Kibum tell Minho what he had seen behind them. Minho shudders and silence fall over the two again.
When the sun sets in the horizon they are both exhausted and hungry. Their horses need a break after the long travel. They have had shorter breaks to let the horses eat and drink but have held off from eating themselves so they had been able to carry on the minute the horses were done. They arrive at the city gate of Vrarc and ride into the city.
The streets of the city are made of cobble stones and there are people everywhere, doing business as usual. A young girl runs away from her father to stare at the two strangers on horseback, admiring Minho’s black stallion.
Minho asks for an inn and soon enough they’re sitting at a table. Their horses are resting in the stable connected to the inn and Minho is eating a bowl of soup. Kibum is looking at the other guests.
They have a room upstairs so they can get a good night’s sleep before they head out to kill the Chaosarrow witches. Kibum gets eye contact with another young man at a table and raises an eyebrow. The other man blushes a little and quickly diverts his gaze to the bread on his plate. Kibum has an odd feeling about him.
Whispers are heard in the streets when Kibum goes to find a bakery the next morning. The Qitas are in town to kill the witches. It’s not often they travel to Vrarc because Vrarc have fine witch hunters of their own. They usually hunt in the city of the North, Kham, and in the Quhst swamp that is located to the west of the forest. There come a lot of witches to the Quhst swamp to get Ichenis and Slatimin, key ingredients in health potions.
Kibum rounds a corner and runs directly into the same young man from the inn. He apologizes and so does the other. When they finally look at each other, Kibum feels his heart skip a beat. The man before him is absolutely stunning. His hair is long and his fringe falls into his dark brown eyes. His build is slim yet sturdy and he’s a little smaller than Kibum. Then he smiles a shy smile and Kibum almost feels stupid because it awakens butterflies in his stomach. It’s the most beautiful smile Kibum has ever seen in his life.
The man apologizes again and is about to turn around when Kibum makes a hasty decision and reaches out to place a hand on his shoulder.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name,” he says and the stranger widens his eyes.
“Jinki,” he says. “Jinki Sanguine.”
With a smile, he reaches a hand out and Kibum takes it.
“I’m Kibum Qitas.”
There’s a glint in Jinki’s eyes for a brief second and Kibum releases his hand. Jinki turns around again and takes a step away to be on his way but Kibum is desperate.
“Do you know a good bakery around here?” he asks and Jinki turns around to look at again. “Sure. I’ll show you, Qitas.”
Kibum feels silly when he follows Jinki to a small bakery located in an alley. The baker is named Jonghyun and, according to Jinki, makes the best bread in the entire world. Jonghyun shakes his head with a fond laugh but Jinki insists and Kibum has to agree with Jinki when he tastes a loaf of freshly baked bread. Jonghyun makes outstanding bread. He buys two loaves and reluctantly says goodbye.
As he turns around to look in through the window of Crumbs he sees Jinki and Jonghyun talk over the counter.
Minho is thrilled to see Kibum with food when he returns to the inn and Kibum rolls his eyes at his brother. They talk to a few locals who have seen the coven of 5 witches near the Ysp cliffs at the eastern border. They set out a little after the sun is highest on the sky. Kibum has his bow and his arrows with him, coated with a layer of Zaxin and his daggers in his shirt. He’s most likely not going to need them but he brings anyway. Minho always fights with his long sword.
Approximately 20 minutes before they reach the Ysp cliffs Minho stops Kibum and Kibum turns to look at him.
“The one who kills the most pays for dinner tonight,” he says and Kibum laughs out loud.
“You have already lost,” he counters and Minho rolls his eyes in determination to show who’s the best.
Kibum is the best. He has always been far superior although the Qitas have always been a well-respected hunter-family. Minho always makes it a bet but Kibum has never lost to his brother and Minho is betting more for the challenge to beat Kibum. They’re both still waiting for the day it will happen. Nobody knows exactly why Kibum is so talented in the hunting but nobody has ever bothered to learn the reason behind either.
The first arrow lodges itself into the back of an elderly lady with grey hair from a distance of 50 meters and the other witches scatters as soon as the first one falls. Kibum changes a quick glance with Minho before they both charge towards the remaining 4.
There are screams filling the area around the cliffs and ravens fly from the grounds at the sounds. It’s a chaos that doesn’t fit them. Minho is laughing as he sticks his sword through the last witch. Kibum looks at him and doubles over in laughter as well.
They’re laughing at the sight of the 5 dead witches and the adrenaline that fills their bodies pumps through their blood and makes the experience so much more exhilarating. Minho jumps from his horse a few seconds later when the laughter subsides and Kibum gets off of his own to help him tying the witches up.
They bring them back to city on horseback, wide smiles on their lips as they brag about their conquest. Unconsciously they’re scouting reactions to find other witches hiding among humans. They’re there, living everyday lives like everybody else but Kibum knows how to find them, knows how to distinguish them. Never once has he made a mistake when he has sent daggers towards onlookers and killed a witch, but there is none in the crowd today.
He watches the young man from earlier – Jinki – talk to the baker in the back and sits straighter on his horse, somehow wants to show off. Minho raises an eyebrow and chuckles at him.
The city square is made ready for the burning of the witches, for the celebration that is to be tonight. Minho talks to the mayor like he always does. He’s the one who gets the money, the one who does the business. Kibum always stays out of that. Kibum isn’t really here to collect glory for his murders; he’s just here to kill the bastard witches.
He sinks into his bed at the inn and stares into the ceiling before he falls into a light sleep. He’s awoken an hour later when Minho gently shakes his shoulder.
“The burning starts in 5 minutes,” he says when Kibum blearily blinks up at him.
“Huh?” Kibum says and Minho just chuckles and leaves him alone.
It takes Kibum too long to wake up to actually witness when they start the fires. When he wanders into the city square, the flames are already towards the sky, devouring the remains of the witches. There are children playing around, trying to get as close to the fire as possible and men and women drinking fine wine in celebration. Another 5 witches killed, another 5 witches away from the city and away from harm. There’s no more to fear, at least not for now.
He scouts the square and notices Minho surrounded by two young women. He smiles a little at Minho’s flustered face. Minho is good at killing witches and being a business man but he has never had an interest in women and his ability to flirt is downright laughable.
Then he spots the young baker, Jonghyun, and figures that if Jonghyun is there Jinki has to be nearby. Jonghyun doesn’t recognize until he introduces himself again and then lights up into a big smile.
“Ah, the Qitas from this morning! I don’t think I ever got to introduce myself properly?” he says and Kibum just waves his hand. It’s not really necessary. Jonghyun insists, however, and stretches out a hand for Kibum to take.
“I’m Jonghyun Orbaxe.”
Kibum nods a little and takes his hand. Then Jinki comes back, a mug of beer in each of his hands.
“Oh,” he says and then looks sheepishly to the ground. “If I knew you had company, I would’ve bought one more.”
Kibum quickly assures him that it’s quite alright. Kibum doesn’t drink a lot of alcohol anyway, he says. That’s not quite the truth but he doesn’t want to make the other man guilty for not having brought more beer.
They talk throughout the night while the fire slowly burn out behind them and the sound dies down. Jonghyun grew up in the bakery with his mother and sister. He refuses to talk about his father, a sour look clouds his face every time someone mentions it. Jinki is not from Vrarc but from a smaller city where his mother and father sell meat. He moved to Vrarc to get a job and now works as a goldsmith. Kibum can’t help himself when he scans the man at the news but nothing about Jinki’s appearance scream goldsmith. Jinki says he makes smaller pieces and Jonghyun laughs and tells Kibum that Jinki is much stronger than he appears.
The more Kibum learns, the more attracted he is to the other man and he doesn’t want to leave them when he becomes tired. Minho is gone already, probably back to the inn without a woman like he usually does and Kibum promises to come by Jonghyun’s bakery in the morning.
He keeps his promise as he enters the small shop of freshly baked goods and Jonghyun sends him a smile when he notices that it’s Kibum. A woman that looks slightly younger than Jonghyun is working at the display, setting up bread and cake to look as appealing as possible. She sends Kibum a smile before she leans in to whisper words in Jonghyun’s ear. Jonghyun nods and sees her leave. Kibum tilts his head as he observes her. There’s something odd about her, something he cannot pinpoint.
“Kibum, goodmorning!” Jonghyun says and effectively destroys Kibum’s train of thought. Kibum smiles and although he buys a piece of bread he makes sure to get directions to the goldsmith as well. He doesn’t know what leads him to stand outside the workshop. There’s a large man working the smithy and only after 5 minutes does he look up and notice Kibum.
“Oh,” he says. “You surprised me. What can I do for you?”
He wipes his hands on his apron and Kibum wets his lip quickly.
“I’m looking for Jinki Sanguine,” he then says and surprises himself a little. He doesn’t know what makes him look for the other man, what makes him come back. But when the smith lights up into a wide grin, he knows that he’s not the first to have asked that question. Jinki sits in a small room in the back, head bowed over a table while his hands work on something much smaller in front of him. Kibum leans over his shoulder and notices the small chain that Jinki is putting together by hand.
“Wow,” he breathes and Jinki almost gets a heart attack at the sound. He turns around in his chair and glares at Kibum before they get eye contact and Kibum can see him visibly relaxing.
“You scared me,” he says and Kibum looks towards the floor.
“I’m sorry.”
Kibum spends the day in the smithy, observing Jinki as he works with nimble fingers. They don’t talk a lot but the things they do talk about has Kibum feeling even more attracted to Jinki. It’s with a sad heart he leaves Jinki and Vrarc behind when Minho goes to find him and tell him they’re going back to Pyulm forest.
Jinki sends him off with a small wave and Kibum is left to his thoughts on the ride home.
They arrive home late in the evening when the moon is high and are greeted by Taemin who immediately flings himself at his brothers.
“Did you kill the witches?” he asks excitedly and Minho launches into a fairytale telling of how they slayed the witches who fought back. Reality had been nothing like that but Taemin listens with wide eyes in fascination so Kibum chimes in at times, only to make their expedition far more thrilling than it had been.
When he lies in his bed that night, he stares into the ceiling and sees the face of a stranger, a man he shouldn’t be thinking about it. It’s almost like witchcraft but the thought has Kibum snorting out loud in the silence. Kibum cannot stop thinking about Jinki, however, and so he does until he falls asleep.
Time goes by and Kibum forgets about Jinki, the goldsmith in Vrarc. He’s sparring with his father in a sword fight to make sure he’s trained when his mother interrupts them.
“There has been a sighting of a powerful Bonethorn witch near Lake Pezul,” she says and their match stops immediately. His father frowns in concern and his mother continues. “Witch hunters from Vrarc have informed me that they already tried, but they’re unable to beat it alone. They’re requesting for assistance.”
Kibum nods when his father looks at him and the two adults leave him alone in the forest. Kibum sinks onto the forest floor and starts drawing in the earth with his sword. He wants to fight the Bonethorn witch too and he hopes his parents will allow him and Minho to join as well.
Bonethorn are said to be the most powerful witches and Kibum has yet to kill one. They are usually located in the East but are so well-integrated in society that they rarely stand out to the humans around them. Minho joins him on the dirt a few minutes later.
“So, I heard mom and dad talking,” he says and Kibum looks up from where he’s drawing in the dirt.
“Yeah. Apparently a Bonethorn witch has been spotted near Pezul,” Kibum explains.
“Ah, I hope we can go!” Minho says slightly hopeful and Kibum nods a little.
“Me too,” he says. The two men get eye contact and Minho grins then.
“That would be our first Bonethorn!” he says excited and Kibum laughs. “We have to rise the prize for this bet!”
Kibum just shakes his head as he continues laughing.
“You’re going to lose anyway,” he says and Minho frowns and pokes him in the side. Kibum lifts his sword and points it towards Minho who instantly gets up and pulls his own.
They start laughing as they jokingly take jabs at each other. The practice session isn’t serious at all, but it is filled with excitement at the thought of hunting their first Bonethorn.
Over dinner their parents tell them that they’re all going to Vrarc before they head towards Lake Pezul to fight the witch with the others. Their mother is missing witch hunting and Taemin is excited to get out of the house and actually see a real witch.
Five days later they all ride through the gates to Vrarc. The city is bustling with people and witch hunters from all around the region. Kibum recognizes a man from Jiorora that their father used to hunt with a couple of years ago. But in the end, he’s left with Minho and Taemin at the inn, their parents joining the hunters that is going after the Bonethorn.
“Why am I babysitting?” Kibum mumbles and frowns. His arms are crossed over his chest. Taemin is running excitedly around in their room. Minho looks just as displeased as Kibum.
“Can we go see the city?” Taemin asks and looks from one of his brothers to the other. “Please, please, please!”
He tugs at Minho shirt before he runs towards Kibum and grabs his hand and tugs at him too. They give up in the end and soon they’re walking down the streets. Taemin is looking wide-eyed at everything the city life entails. Kibum is still grumbling over babysitting Taemin but Minho soon starts to enjoy Taemin’s wide-eyed fascination.
The sun is high on the sky when Taemin starts complaining that he’s hungry. Minho, who hasn’t been looking through the streets in Vrarc very much, frowns because he has no idea where to go for easy food that will satisfy Taemin. Kibum remembers the small bakery and although it’s a small detour to find the small shop, when he finally does find it, he is suddenly face to face with Jinki again.
Jinki sends him a wide smile and Kibum feels oddly small in the shop.
Taemin is looking at all the food while Jonghyun points out the best bread in the shop. Taemin has a hard time choosing, though, and in the end Minho chooses for him and then tries to lower the price in a bargain with Jonghyun. Kibum just keeps looking at Jinki. It’s almost impossible for him to tear his eyes away when Taemin finally grabs his hand and tries to pull away from the store while he munches on his bread. Minho sends him a smirk and Kibum hits his shoulder and glares at him for implying that Kibum is crushing on Jinki.
Kibum is crushing on Jinki. He realizes this two days later when he finds Jinki at the smithy again and watches as Jinki works with a small brooch.
“You should’ve been a jeweller,” Kibum says and Jinki shrugs a little and continues his work without looking up.
“I like working out front as well at times.”
There is silence between them for another 5 minutes before Jinki looks up in triumph, the brooch in his hand. Kibum sends him a wide smile and his heart flutters in his chest at the sight of Jinki.
It’s ridiculous really, because Kibum isn’t one to fall in love quickly but Jinki’s smile is almost magical and his presence is so comfortable Kibum can’t help it.
“Why are you here? You live in the Pyulm forest, right? What brings you to Vrarc again?” Jinki asks an hour later when they sit in front of the fountain on the main square. Minho is fooling around with Taemin on the big square and Kibum has forgotten about them in favour of talking with Jinki.
“We were requested for assistance for the Bonethorn near Pezul,” Kibum explains easily. Jinki just nods a little in thought.
“Of course,” he says after a few seconds. Kibum turns to look at him with a questioning gaze.
“Why?” he asks and Jinki sends him one of those smiles that makes the butterflies in his stomach flutter and his heart stutter.
“I was just wondering. I didn’t think I would see you again.”
There’s silence between them for a few seconds.
“Would you like to see me again?” Kibum asks. This time it’s far more subdued, almost like a whisper. He doesn’t know why he asks, but he knows that if Jinki says no it will hurt him. Kibum never thought a crush on another man would make him feel so vulnerable but here he is, in front of Jinki and feeling exactly that vulnerable. He purses his lips when Jinki doesn’t answer.
“Yes,” Jinki says some time after and Kibum breathes a sigh of relief. When Minho finds them an hour later and demands that Kibum takes some responsibility for his younger brother, Kibum scoffs at him and get into a huge fight. Jinki just pulls Taemin away so he doesn’t have to hear his brothers fight.
When the two brothers stop their argument, they hear Taemin laughing with Jinki as they feed the pigeons. Kibum looks at them with a fond gaze and Minho scoffs.
“You’re so whipped,” he says but Kibum doesn’t retaliate.
He is so whipped and when they have to leave Vrarc again a week later he has realized that not only is he crushing on Jinki, he might legit be falling in love with the other man. Everything Jinki does make Kibum’s heart beat faster in his chest and it’s impossible for Kibum to look at Jinki without a fond gaze. He adores the way he works, the way he plays with Taemin. He drowns in his eyes and in his smile and he does everything he can to initiate contact.
He’s pretty bummed out when they say goodbye and Minho doesn’t even have the heart to . Kibum knows it’s a bad case of unrequited love because there is no reason Jinki would love him but still he analyses every encounter they have, every word Jinki says and tries to find signs that Jinki might have a crush on him too. Kibum’s parents notice but they say nothing as they ride home.
Summer arrives and the heat is unbearable. Training in the heat is horrible and both Minho and Kibum are neglecting their practice to sleep under the shades of the trees. The sun is high on the sky and they’re both sweating when they decide going to Pezul would be a far better option than staying here. Taemin isn’t allowed to come with, something both are grateful for, but soon they head out towards the lake.
They reach the lake in the late afternoon, the sun no longer as hot but the air still warm and uncomfortable. They shed their clothes in a competition on who can jump into the water first, but they don’t expect other people to be in the lake. There is, however. Minho looks around and eyes a group of young people first and with a smile he nods towards them, indicating that he’s going there to meet new friends. Kibum just sinks below the surface with a nod.
When he comes up again, he feels better, cooler, and the air is no longer as uncomfortable as before. He hears someone laugh behind him, only to find Jinki and Jonghyun. It makes him feel self-conscious and he dips into the water again, trying to hide. Jinki sheds his clothes as well and Jonghyun settles on the shoreline. Kibum feels his cheeks turn pink and he turns away from the two men so he doesn’t have to look at Jinki’s form.
He doesn’t know how much time passes before someone dunks his head into the lake and when he comes up for air he sees Jinki grinning widely behind him.
“Hey Kibum,” he greets and Kibum blushes a little before he steels himself.
“I could’ve drowned, you fool,” he scolds instead and Jinki laughs. His laughter has Kibum melting a little but he schools his frown into one of annoyance.
“Oh come on, I would have saved you before that happened.”
They spend the evening in the lake, Jonghyun reading on the shoreline and sometimes shouting to Jinki who plays with Kibum in the water. When Jonghyun gets up and puts his book away, he looks over the lake to find his friend.
“Hey, Jinki, I’m going home,” he shouts and Jinki just nods. Kibum shivers in the water that has turned colder with the evening and Jinki suggests they, too, start heading home. Kibum has a long way home after all.
They sit on the shoreline, soaking up the last of the sun and letting it warm their bare skin while Jinki talks about the lake. Kibum just listens, carefully making sure his eyes stay on Jinki’s face and doesn’t linger on his muscular body.
“We should get dressed,” Kibum says when he’s almost dry and Jinki nods a little. None of them makes any movement to get, however, and they continue sitting in now silence on the shoreline.
Kibum turns his head to ask Jinki if he has seen Minho but what meets him is the press of lips on his. It’s fleeting but it has Kibum’s mind short circuiting and he freezes, heart hammering in his chest. Jinki realises that it isn’t Kibum’s cheek and pulls back, flushed and panicking.
“I…” he says but Kibum interrupts him when he leans in again, effectively shutting him up. The kiss is innocent enough and when they pull away Kibum looks towards the ground beneath them.
“Um,” he says and there’s silence around them. Jinki doesn’t say anything. When Kibum can’t take the silence anymore he gets up and goes to find his clothes. He’s almost dressed when Jinki joins him, only in his trousers.
“Kibum,” he says and Kibum turns around to look at him. “I like you.”
Kibum blinks at the confession before he realizes how hard his heart is beating and he can’t stop himself when he kisses Jinki again. This time none of them freeze up.
“So this is the man that has won your heart?” his mother says when she meets Jinki for the first time. Kibum nods a little and bites his lower lip. He doesn’t know how she is going to react now that he has someone he loves, but she doesn’t seem to be angry. Jinki greets her shyly but lights up in a smile when he sees Taemin. Their fingers are interlaced and Kibum finds comfort in Jinki’s warmth, even though he should be the supportive one in front of his parents. “What are you?”
“A goldsmith, ma’am,” Jinki answers and Kibum closes his eyes in anticipation.
“Do you live in Vrarc?” she asks again. Kibum can’t hear Jinki’s answer so he assumes he nods. He still has his eyes closed. He can feel Jinki squeezing his hand but he doesn’t dare squeeze back.
“Yes,” he says. When Kibum opens his eyes his mother is looking at them.
“Tell me about yourself,” she says then and leads them into the kitchen.
Jinki isn’t used to walking around in the forest. It’s very much obvious in the way he constantly stumbles over roots and rocks and Kibum jokes that he has to carry Jinki. Jinki refuses being carried, though, and just asks Kibum to walk a little slower.
They reach their destination a little later, the large rocks hidden behind the dense forest. Jinki blinks when Kibum releases his hand and starts climbing one of the larger rocks.
“Come on,” Kibum says and reaches a hand out towards Jinki. They’re sitting on the rock, overlooking the entrance to the Cluhox caves. Kibum leans against Jinki’s shoulder and Jinki just smiles as the sun sets in the horizon over the trees.
“This is my absolute favorite place,” Kibum admits after a minute or two. “When you are silent you can hear the Cucullata sing and if you’re really lucky a Lemacine might venture out of the caves. I’ve never really spent time in the caves but I like the atmosphere out here.”
Jinki hums and presses a kiss to Kibum’s temple.
They quiet down, enjoying the sun setting and the Cucullata singing their mating song.
Jinki even finds wild Poisonwall Groundberry when they get off of the rock. Kibum laughs when Jinki plucks a berry and throws it at him. They end their small fight with a kiss and when they cuddle into Kibum’s mattress in the evening, Kibum feels his heart at ease.
The more time they spend together, the more does Kibum consider moving to Vrarc. He hates being separated from Jinki when he can’t stay in Vrarc because of a job or because his parents demand him at home. Jinki obviously can’t spend all his time in the forest with Kibum either; he has a job to attend and it requires him to be in Vrarc most of the time.
Kibum suggests moving in 6 months later, right before he’s about to leave Vrarc again to head back home. Jinki blinks at him and Kibum worries his bottom lip between his teeth. Was this too soon? Then Jinki lights up into a face-splitting grin and embraces Kibum. Kibum doesn’t leave Vrarc that day anyway.
Taemin tries hard not to show his tears when Kibum brings the news home. His parents share a look and Minho is grinning knowingly. Kibum ignores his brothers, however, as he turns to his parents to practically beg them to let him move in with Jinki. He wants to be with Jinki.
They agree reluctantly but Kibum promises to send letters and visit often. He promises Taemin that he can visit them in Vrarc whenever he wants and that when he starts hunting, Kibum will come back so they can hunt together. Taemin agrees to send him off with tears rolling down his cheeks and Kibum offers him a hug.
When Kibum stands and looks at his parents, he can see his mother’s wet eyes and he sends her a soft smile.
“You know I’ll be fine,” he says and she nods. Minho chuckles at the sight of their mother but their father sends him a glance that has him stopping immediately. Kibum hugs all his family members and promises to visit soon. He’s not farther away.
“Kibum,” Jinki says and walks into the small house they share. Kibum looks up from where he’s reading a book.
“Yes?” he asks and raises an eyebrow. He’s sitting on the small couch. Jinki sinks down next to his feet and smiles.
“I love you,” he says and hands Kibum a small golden ring. “I made it today. I’ve been collecting excess gold without their knowledge from when I fix jewellery. Look at the inside.” Kibum turns the ring in his hands and notices a foreign language. “It says I love you in Aurari.”
Kibum blushes a little and lets the ring slip onto his finger.
“I love you,” he says and leans closer so he can kiss Jinki. When he pulls away a thought enters his mind. “How do you know Aurari?”
Jinki shrugs a little and leans in so he can kiss Kibum again.
“My mom taught me. It’s not important.”
Kibum forgets when he kisses Jinki again.
Spring comes and goes and soon it’s summer again, a year since Jinki kissed Kibum near Lake Pezul. Kibum is more in love than he has ever been and every glance at Jinki makes him proud of the other man. Jinki is working in the smithy and Kibum has left their house to buy a cake at Crumbs and say hello to Jonghyun.
Kibum doesn’t consider it an official anniversary, not really, but he wants to celebrate anyway when Jinki is off. The minute he steps into the bakery, however, he gets an odd sensation. Something is awfully wrong. He looks around in the shop, but it’s empty.
“Hello?” he calls into the shop but gets no answer. As he moves closer to the counter, he hears a low whisper from the back room. “Anybody here?”
The whispers disappear and Kibum suddenly recognises them. They’re witchcraft, whispered low in the back room in Shemari, the lost language of the Shadowguards. He takes a step back, anger boiling within and he regrets not bringing his daggers like he usually does.
“Jonghyun?” he calls out. The witch has killed his friend, he’s convinced of it, until said man steps out from the back room and sends Kibum a confused glance and a raised eyebrow.
“What’s wrong?” he says and Kibum notices how tense his body is.
“There’s a witch here,” Kibum warns and Jonghyun laughs.
“What are you talking about Kibum?” he asks but Kibum can’t relax, not yet. He heard the spells whispered in Shemari, there has to be a Shadowguard witch in the bakery and Kibum cannot let it kill Jonghyun.
“There’s a witch here, leave. I’ll kill it.”
Jonghyun shakes his head in a motion that suggests that Kibum has lost it but Kibum is sure.
“Did you need anything?” Jonghyun asks instead and Kibum leaves the bakery without a word, highly alert and with all his senses reaching out to find anything unusual. He doesn’t find the Shadowguard witch, however.
Kibum tells Jinki in the evening and Jinki frowns a little.
“Are you sure?” he asks and Kibum nods.
“100 % certain.”
Jinki reaches out to grab his hand and gently his palm. Kibum relaxes a little with the motion.
“There is no way you could’ve been wrong? It could have been the whispers of the fire or something like that.”
Kibum turns to glare incredulously at him.
“Jinki, I’m a hunter, a damn good one at that. I know what I heard and it was witchcraft in Shemari.” Jinki just nods at that and Kibum feels odd. “I’m going back tomorrow to kill it.”
They stare at each other until Jinki sighs and pulls him close in an embrace. He doesn’t say anything and Kibum looks at him with a questioning glance. He doesn’t get an answer but he does relax.
When he goes back the next day, Jonghyun is removing a few shelves from the wall, the display of bread much smaller than it usually is. Kibum looks at him and tilts his head.
“What’s going on?” he asks and Jonghyun turns around to look at him with a smile.
“Jinki told me you were being serious about the witch, so I’m moving shop. There really isn’t anyone here but if it’s haunted or something, it might be better just to find somewhere else.”
Kibum nods in understanding but asks if he can look in the backroom anyway. He has his daggers hidden in his sleeve and his senses sharpened in on finding the witch but there is nobody but Jonghyun in the room, just like Jonghyun had said. It annoys him, but he accepts defeat this time around.
He will get the Shadowguard witch when he finds it again.
When the leaves start turning yellow and red in autumn, Kibum starts feeling restless. There hasn’t been many sightings and it bothers him. That means that the witches are getting better at hiding in public, posing as humans, and it causes a threat.
He’s in the kitchen, looking through spices to the chicken he’s going to cook for Jinki, when he finds a secret compartment in the last drawer. He raises an eyebrow but stubbornly wrestles with the fake bottom until he has revealed underneath. In the fake compartment lies bundles of Ichenis and Slatimin, dried Green Phlebia fungi, bark from the corrupting oak, Sie roots and feathers from the Batara Nebouxii.
He stares at the ingredients for witchcraft, not fully understand what exactly he has found. In the bottom lies an old book. Kibum takes the book, rustling the other ingredients as he lifts the book out and starts looking. The language is Aurari and it looks like a cookbook of sorts, the written script hard to read.
When it hits him that Jinki really has hidden all this from him he first gets awfully disappointed in himself. How come he hadn’t been able to sense that Jinki wasn’t human. Then he gets angry because even with all the evidence laid out before him, he still can’t believe that Jinki is a witch. He still can’t believe that the one he loves is also a part of everything he has hated all his life, is one of those he has dedicated his life to destroy, to kill.
When Jinki arrives home, Kibum sits on the couch, ingredients and cookbook laid before him on the small table.
“Hey dar…” Jinki says before he eyes his crime on the table and interrupts himself. “I…” he says but the swallows his words.
“Explain,” Kibum says, word cold and gaze calculating. He doesn’t have his weapons with him in the living room and he’s sure that he wouldn’t be able to kill Jinki. He loves him too much and the hatred is buried under uncertainty.
“My name is not Jinki Sanguine,” Jinki says instead. “It’s Jinki Lee.”
The silence between them as Kibum swallows his words is oppressive. Kibum can’t believe it. The man he loves is a witch. This is the proof.
“Waterhood?” Kibum asks in a whisper and Jinki shakes his head.
“Bellowpike. Kibum, I’m sorry! I didn’t want you to find out this way. I love you, I really do.”
He reaches out to touch Kibum’s shoulder but Kibum pushes him away.
“Leave me alone,” he says.
He doesn’t want to kill Jinki but he can’t possibly live and love a Bellowpike witch. He can’t possibly love someone who lied to him. Kibum knows, that rationally Jinki had to lie to even stay alive, there was no way Kibum would have let him get away had he known he was a Bellowpike witch the first time they met, but this is no longer the first time they meet and he’s in love with the witch on the couch next to him. So horribly in love.
He gets up but so does Jinki.
“Kibum, don’t leave me. I’d rather you kill me, don’t leave me. Please.”
Kibum turns towards the front door. He could go back, get his daggers, his poisoned arrows and shoot Jinki in the heart, watch him die and open a small fire somewhere where he could burn his lover but Kibum doesn’t want to kill Jinki. He can’t lose Jinki like that, he’s not heartless. He could find Minho, ask him to kill Jinki for him and suffer the loss, knowing that he has done good. He could cry in his mother’s lap and mourn the loss of a lover that should never have been a lover. But for some reason, Kibum doesn’t want to do either.
He turns back towards Jinki, stares at him in anger when he finally realises what dilemma he is in.
“I hate you,” he says, ice cold. The air around them turns colder, the temperature dropping a few degrees and he can see the look in Jinki’s eyes shift.
“Kibum,” he tries but Kibum is too angry, too emotional. The temperature keeps dropping around them slowly but steadly. Kibum takes a few steps towards Jinki and slaps his cheek. It should have left a mark but it sends Jinki into the wall on the other side of the living room. Kibum stares at his hand with fear when he realises that he just punched Jinki through the room. Jinki stares at him with wide eyes.
“Kibum,” Jinki says again but Kibum leaves, this time without looking back. This can only mean one thing, and that is one thing he doesn’t want to acknowledge. This is not true.
He slams the front door, hurries down the streets, eyes locked in front of him as he finds his mare and gets up.
Kibum rides all evening and all night until he hits the city of Yeeteka. The orphanage is a ruin but there are still kids playing in the ruined garden in front. The city has suffered since Kibum was a child, people moving away to find better jobs elsewhere.
When he realises what he’s about to do, he stops in front of the gate. If he knows everything will be different, his entire life will be ruined. Not only will it destroy his family, it will destroy everything he has ever believed to be the truth. Time stands still while he weighs pros and cons but he needs to know, he needs to know now.
He enters the orphanage and a couple of the children playing looks up with wide eyes. A small girl calls out to him in the hopes of getting adopted but Kibum is not here to get a child. He ignores them and finds the counter. The sharp-nosed woman behind the counter looks up with eagle eyes and rough grey hair.
“What?” she asks aggressively.
“I need the files on Kibum Qitas,” he says. The woman squints at him.
“Sorry, they’re confidential,” she says and then looks down towards the papers on her desk. Kibum can hear himself growl almost ferally as he leans over the counter and demands for the files again. The woman doesn’t bow down, however, not even when Kibum tells him who he is. He leaves the orphanage without new knowledge.
He wanders the streets of Yeeteka when he recognizes the facial features of one of them men that pass him.
“Woohyun!” he says in disbelief and the man reacts. They stare at each other.
“Kibum?” the other man says and Kibum nods, lump filling his throat. Woohyun blinks in disbelief before he lights up in a small smile. “It really is you?”
Kibum nods again.
Woohyun brings Kibum home with him. He has a wife and 3 kids already, a 4th on the way. Woohyun’s wife makes tea and smiles kindly to the stranger that claims to know her husband. Kibum feels strange in the household. He hasn’t spoken to Woohyun since he got adopted as a 7-year-old and seeing him now, years later is strange. Being here because of other circumstances and not to catch up has him feeling a little guilty. Still he needs to ask.
“Woohyun, do you know my real last name?”
Kibum doesn’t remember a time where he has ever been called his last name before getting adopted. Woohyun shakes his head.
“No. I’m sorry. Why?”
Kibum doesn’t tell him why he’s looking for his last name, but he does tell him about the Qitas and how his life has been so far. He leaves out the last year with Jinki, not ready to admit that he is in love with one of the witches he has been hunting since he was 8.
When he lies awake in the guest room, he stares at the ceiling and a pang of heartache enters his body again.
The next morning Woohyun hands Kibum a copy of the files from the orphanage. Kibum looks at him with a raised eyebrow and a question and Woohyun just sends him a smirk. Kibum never gets to know where he has them from. On the front page is the name he was left with when someone handed him over to the orphanage. Below is the name he leaves with.
Kibum Kim.
Kibum Qitas.
He stares at the names before he stands up. He needs to get back. He thanks Woohyun for his hospitality.
The travel home is longer and Kibum rests multiple times on his way, letting his mare rest far more than necessary. He keeps thinking over everything. He’s not a human. He can’t possibly be with the last name Kim. How come his parents don’t know if they adopted him? Did they not see his name before they got him or did they trust the orphanage’s word that he was as human as the rest of the children? Kibum can’t find the answers to his questions and he confuses himself more than he manages to make sense of anything.
When he finally rides through the gates of Vrarc, it’s to find their house empty. Jinki isn’t there and a strong fear surges through Kibum. He doesn’t know if Jinki has done something stupid. He hasn’t heard any notice of a Bellowpike witch from his fellow hunters but that doesn’t mean Jinki hasn’t done anything anyway.
He rushes through the streets until he finds Jonghyun’s new bakery and bursts inside. The store is empty but he can hear voices from behind. Kibum slows down and as silent as he possibly can be, sneaks behind the counter and into the backroom, just to see Jonghyun hand Jinki a glass filled with a pink liquid. Jinki sends him a small smile and says something in a language Kibum identifies as Shemari. Jonghyun answers in Shemari and it is then that Kibum realises that the Shadowguard witch he had heard earlier was Jonghyun. How he hadn’t connected the dots at the time, he has no idea.
He watches as Jinki downs the liquid and hands the glass back to Jonghyun. He stands frozen to the ground, heart beating in his chest at the sight of the man his love and the secrets that are finally getting unveiled.
Jonghyun looks towards him and they get eye contact. He can almost see Jonghyun’s eyes glaze over and how he becomes protective of Jinki in the chair. He can see the way Jonghyun steps in front of Jinki, should Kibum have weapons with him.
“What do you want?” Jonghyun asks, voice ice cold and strong.
“I need to talk to Jinki,” Kibum says and suddenly feels very small in the room. The temperature rises a few degrees as Jonghyun looks at Jinki before he looks back to Kibum.
“I can’t allow that.”
“Please Jonghyun,” Kibum begs but Jonghyun stands his ground.
“You’ll have to go through me.”
Jinki looks towards the floor and Kibum’s heart sinks in his chest.
“I don’t want to fight you Jonghyun,” Kibum says. “We both know I could kill you, but I don’t want to. I’m not going to kill Jinki either. I love him, for God’s sake. I need him.”
Jinki looks up at Kibum’s words and Kibum’s heart start beating again. Jonghyun narrows his eyes.
“You’re going to rat him out to your hunter-family.”
The tension in the small bakery is so high that when the temperature starts rising a few degrees again, Kibum feels a bead of sweat roll over his temple.
“I’m not, I promise… I … I’m a Kim.”
The words silence the room and the temperature drops so rapidly it has goosebumps rising on Kibum’s forearm. Jinki rises from the chair and looks over Jonghyun’s shoulder.
“What?” he whispers and Kibum nods. Their eyes meet and Kibum bites his lower lip to keep himself from crying.
“I’m a witch…”
Saying the words out loud forces the dilemma and confused thoughts through Kibum again and he can’t help the tear that slips down his cheek. He’s looking towards the floor when he feels Jinki’s warm embrace and sobs into his shoulder. They say nothing. Kibum knows that Jinki knows, has seen the witchcraft in Kibum the minute Kibum slammed him into the wall, but saying it out loud is enough to really make the information sink in.
“I’m a Kim,” he whispers again into Jinki’s shoulder.
Kibum doesn’t know how long he cries before he pulls away from Jinki and dries his eyes. Jonghyun is standing on the side while Jinki sits down on the chair again, Kibum pulled into his lap this time.
“What kind of Kim?” Jinki asks and Kibum shakes his head.
“I don’t know.”
“I’m a Kim too,” Jonghyun says a little later. “But you’re not a Shadowguard. I would’ve known if you were…”
Kibum looks up to find Jonghyun with a small guilty smile.
“I’m sorry about earlier.”
Kibum just shakes his head. He would have done the same if he had been in Jonghyun’s position.
“But if I’m not a Shadowguard, then I can be practically anything.”
Jinki shakes his head a little.
“No. Ebonforges are healers only. The only Kim-clans that can lower the temperature are Charfords and Frostwells.”
Both Jonghyun and Kibum turn to Jinki.
“How do you know?” Jonghyun asks and Jinki sends him a small smile.
“My mother left me with a majority of books on witchcraft. You know how Bellowpikes love knowledge.”
Kibum then realises that what he knows about witchcraft is so little. There are communities and clans he has never heard of before, traits of each clan he has no ideas even existed. He doesn’t know some clans can change the temperature or that there are multiple clans within each surname. He doesn’t know that Bellowpikes are the librarians of the witch community and keeps tracks of their history.
There are so many things he doesn’t know.
“Wait… Left you?” he asks when Jinki’s words really sink in. Jinki just nods a little.
“She’s dead.”
Kibum knows Jinki withholds information when he says that. He can see in his eyes how he really means to say ‘killed’ and Kibum knows that it was hunters. Hunters who has taken Jinki’s mother away from him long before they should have been separated.
Kibum starts crying again. All this new knowledge of how wrong hunting is hurts and he doesn’t know which side he’s on. Jinki just rocks him back and forth, trying to comfort him silently. Kibum feels so vulnerable.
“Okay, so let me get this straight,” Kibum says. “Waterhoods, Bellowpikes, Thunderlaws and Jadefalls are all Lee’s. Shadowguards, Ebonforges, Charfords and Frostwells are all Kim’s. Chaosarrows and Goldenbrands are Park’s. Bonethorns are Choi’s. Felpikes are Kang’s. Brightbows are Zeng’s.”
Jinki nods and thumbs his cheek gently.
“Yes. Zeng’s are really rare.”
They’re sitting on the couch, Kibum in Jinki’s lap. Their fingers are laced and Jinki has promised to teach Kibum the things he doesn’t know. Kibum still hasn’t decided on which side to stand, but he loves Jinki too much to kill him and the newfound knowledge that he’s a witch too, might be the reason he was such a superior hunter compared to his human family.
He still doesn’t like witches as a species and it terrifies him that he’s both a witch and in love with one. But he has promised himself to learn before he makes a decision.
“Jinki,” he says and Jinki looks at him. “I still love you, you know. I know this is new and all but …” Kibum doesn’t get to finish his sentence before Jinki kisses him.
“I love you too. Whatever decision you make, I love you.”
“What?” he asks and the other man smiles wide as he hands Kibum a piece of paper.
“Mom says there’s a new job on the outskirts of Vrarc.”
Kibum grabs the piece of paper and the man sits down on the arm rest and leans over Kibum’s shoulder so he can read. Kibum lets his eyes scan the paper and sighs a little. A small group of Chaosarrow witches have been spotted on the outskirts of Vrarc.
Vrarc is a day-travel from where he lives in the Pyulm forest with his family. He looks at the man beside him and sends him a small smirk.
“When are we leaving?”
The man snatches the paper back and takes another look at it. When he looks up he gets eye contact with Kibum and the two men smile wide.
“I don’t know but hopefully soon,” the other man says and before Kibum gets to say anything a woman enters the room with a small boy at the age of 6 by her side.
“Minho? Kibum?” she says and the boys on the chair turns around to face her. The small boy at her side lights up in a wide grin and shows off the front teeth he’s missing. “You are going to be alone on this one. I don’t expect them to be very strong.”
The face of the small boy beside him falls at the news of his brothers going alone.
“Can’t I come?” he asks in a small voice. Kibum leaves Minho on the arm chair and goes to his younger brother.
“Hey Taem, buddy, we’ll go fight the witches when you’re big and brave, okay?”
“I am big and brave,” the boy mutters and Kibum sends him a wide smile that has the boy smiling a little as well.
“Of course! Silly me! When your front teeth come back, then we’ll go fight the witches together, okay?”
Taemin spends a couple of seconds thinking and then nods. He reaches a hand out towards Kibum, pinky finger held out in a promise. Kibum links his own pinky with the boys and promises that they will go hunt witches. Taemin hurries off to find their mother who is now talking to Minho about the details.
Chaosarrow witches have never been difficult to kill despite their name. Their magic is weak compared to the other clans but they are the majority of witches found in and around Vrarc and Kibum has killed his fair share of them since he started hunting with Minho and their father at the age of 8.
Kibum was adopted by the Qitas couple at the age of 7. He grew up at an orphanage in the city of Yeeteka. The orphanage had been old and the employees hadn’t cared much about the children. Kibum knew for a fact that his childhood friend Woohyun had gone into the city to when he’d been thrown out at the age of 16 where he had had to stay homeless.
The Qitas couple had saved him from the same fate and for that he was them eternally grateful. They had a son, Minho, on Kibum’s age and the two had grown up to do everything together. They had learned how to hunt witches together, studying weaponry and witchcraft together in the large library.
Kibum had hated witchcraft but their father had demanded he knew what he was up against. His upbringing had left him with a deep-rooted hatred for the witches.
Minho laughs next to him from his black stallion and Kibum rolls his eyes. Kibum sets his mare in motion and gallops down the street. Minho shouts a hey after him and Kibum laughs from in front of him. They have a long travel before them. Vrarc is a larger city south of the Pyulm forest.
The Qitas have been living in the forest as long as Kibum can remember. His mother considers it a better place to practice hunting methods but Kibum suspects she just doesn’t like Yeeteka or Vrarc.
He slows down after a mile and Minho catches up to him soon after. The two young men ride through the forest on the beaten path towards the main road that connects Vrarc and Jiorora to the East.
They ride in silence for a few miles before Minho starts talking. Minho was never fond of silence for too long. It makes him anxious and he becomes conscious of time and that is only strengthening his anxiety. Kibum lets him talk. He knows he doesn’t have to answer and he likes to just listen to nature. Nature tells him everything he needs to know about dangers and Kibum is good at listening to nature.
They hit the main road an hour later when the sun is highest on the sky. A salesman is struggling with his carriage and he turns towards the two men at the sound of hooves on the dirt. A dirty smile lights up on his face and Kibum frowns a little.
“Hey good men,” he says as they come closer. Kibum gets eye contact with Minho and Minho nods curtly.
“Could you help me?” the salesman asks as they are in front of him. Neither of the young men on horseback say anything as they ride passed him, ignoring him completely.
Kibum has an odd feeling as they pass and one look at Minho lets him know that Minho can feel it too. It’s their intuition that doesn’t let them stop but as Kibum looks back a few minutes later and sees the man with a long knife, he thanks their intuition and starts galloping forward. Minho follows with a raised eyebrow and only when they are far away does Kibum tell Minho what he had seen behind them. Minho shudders and silence fall over the two again.
When the sun sets in the horizon they are both exhausted and hungry. Their horses need a break after the long travel. They have had shorter breaks to let the horses eat and drink but have held off from eating themselves so they had been able to carry on the minute the horses were done. They arrive at the city gate of Vrarc and ride into the city.
The streets of the city are made of cobble stones and there are people everywhere, doing business as usual. A young girl runs away from her father to stare at the two strangers on horseback, admiring Minho’s black stallion.
Minho asks for an inn and soon enough they’re sitting at a table. Their horses are resting in the stable connected to the inn and Minho is eating a bowl of soup. Kibum is looking at the other guests.
They have a room upstairs so they can get a good night’s sleep before they head out to kill the Chaosarrow witches. Kibum gets eye contact with another young man at a table and raises an eyebrow. The other man blushes a little and quickly diverts his gaze to the bread on his plate. Kibum has an odd feeling about him.
Whispers are heard in the streets when Kibum goes to find a bakery the next morning. The Qitas are in town to kill the witches. It’s not often they travel to Vrarc because Vrarc have fine witch hunters of their own. They usually hunt in the city of the North, Kham, and in the Quhst swamp that is located to the west of the forest. There come a lot of witches to the Quhst swamp to get Ichenis and Slatimin, key ingredients in health potions.
Kibum rounds a corner and runs directly into the same young man from the inn. He apologizes and so does the other. When they finally look at each other, Kibum feels his heart skip a beat. The man before him is absolutely stunning. His hair is long and his fringe falls into his dark brown eyes. His build is slim yet sturdy and he’s a little smaller than Kibum. Then he smiles a shy smile and Kibum almost feels stupid because it awakens butterflies in his stomach. It’s the most beautiful smile Kibum has ever seen in his life.
The man apologizes again and is about to turn around when Kibum makes a hasty decision and reaches out to place a hand on his shoulder.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name,” he says and the stranger widens his eyes.
“Jinki,” he says. “Jinki Sanguine.”
With a smile, he reaches a hand out and Kibum takes it.
“I’m Kibum Qitas.”
There’s a glint in Jinki’s eyes for a brief second and Kibum releases his hand. Jinki turns around again and takes a step away to be on his way but Kibum is desperate.
“Do you know a good bakery around here?” he asks and Jinki turns around to look at again. “Sure. I’ll show you, Qitas.”
Kibum feels silly when he follows Jinki to a small bakery located in an alley. The baker is named Jonghyun and, according to Jinki, makes the best bread in the entire world. Jonghyun shakes his head with a fond laugh but Jinki insists and Kibum has to agree with Jinki when he tastes a loaf of freshly baked bread. Jonghyun makes outstanding bread. He buys two loaves and reluctantly says goodbye.
As he turns around to look in through the window of Crumbs he sees Jinki and Jonghyun talk over the counter.
Minho is thrilled to see Kibum with food when he returns to the inn and Kibum rolls his eyes at his brother. They talk to a few locals who have seen the coven of 5 witches near the Ysp cliffs at the eastern border. They set out a little after the sun is highest on the sky. Kibum has his bow and his arrows with him, coated with a layer of Zaxin and his daggers in his shirt. He’s most likely not going to need them but he brings anyway. Minho always fights with his long sword.
Approximately 20 minutes before they reach the Ysp cliffs Minho stops Kibum and Kibum turns to look at him.
“The one who kills the most pays for dinner tonight,” he says and Kibum laughs out loud.
“You have already lost,” he counters and Minho rolls his eyes in determination to show who’s the best.
Kibum is the best. He has always been far superior although the Qitas have always been a well-respected hunter-family. Minho always makes it a bet but Kibum has never lost to his brother and Minho is betting more for the challenge to beat Kibum. They’re both still waiting for the day it will happen. Nobody knows exactly why Kibum is so talented in the hunting but nobody has ever bothered to learn the reason behind either.
The first arrow lodges itself into the back of an elderly lady with grey hair from a distance of 50 meters and the other witches scatters as soon as the first one falls. Kibum changes a quick glance with Minho before they both charge towards the remaining 4.
There are screams filling the area around the cliffs and ravens fly from the grounds at the sounds. It’s a chaos that doesn’t fit them. Minho is laughing as he sticks his sword through the last witch. Kibum looks at him and doubles over in laughter as well.
They’re laughing at the sight of the 5 dead witches and the adrenaline that fills their bodies pumps through their blood and makes the experience so much more exhilarating. Minho jumps from his horse a few seconds later when the laughter subsides and Kibum gets off of his own to help him tying the witches up.
They bring them back to city on horseback, wide smiles on their lips as they brag about their conquest. Unconsciously they’re scouting reactions to find other witches hiding among humans. They’re there, living everyday lives like everybody else but Kibum knows how to find them, knows how to distinguish them. Never once has he made a mistake when he has sent daggers towards onlookers and killed a witch, but there is none in the crowd today.
He watches the young man from earlier – Jinki – talk to the baker in the back and sits straighter on his horse, somehow wants to show off. Minho raises an eyebrow and chuckles at him.
The city square is made ready for the burning of the witches, for the celebration that is to be tonight. Minho talks to the mayor like he always does. He’s the one who gets the money, the one who does the business. Kibum always stays out of that. Kibum isn’t really here to collect glory for his murders; he’s just here to kill the bastard witches.
He sinks into his bed at the inn and stares into the ceiling before he falls into a light sleep. He’s awoken an hour later when Minho gently shakes his shoulder.
“The burning starts in 5 minutes,” he says when Kibum blearily blinks up at him.
“Huh?” Kibum says and Minho just chuckles and leaves him alone.
It takes Kibum too long to wake up to actually witness when they start the fires. When he wanders into the city square, the flames are already towards the sky, devouring the remains of the witches. There are children playing around, trying to get as close to the fire as possible and men and women drinking fine wine in celebration. Another 5 witches killed, another 5 witches away from the city and away from harm. There’s no more to fear, at least not for now.
He scouts the square and notices Minho surrounded by two young women. He smiles a little at Minho’s flustered face. Minho is good at killing witches and being a business man but he has never had an interest in women and his ability to flirt is downright laughable.
Then he spots the young baker, Jonghyun, and figures that if Jonghyun is there Jinki has to be nearby. Jonghyun doesn’t recognize until he introduces himself again and then lights up into a big smile.
“Ah, the Qitas from this morning! I don’t think I ever got to introduce myself properly?” he says and Kibum just waves his hand. It’s not really necessary. Jonghyun insists, however, and stretches out a hand for Kibum to take.
“I’m Jonghyun Orbaxe.”
Kibum nods a little and takes his hand. Then Jinki comes back, a mug of beer in each of his hands.
“Oh,” he says and then looks sheepishly to the ground. “If I knew you had company, I would’ve bought one more.”
Kibum quickly assures him that it’s quite alright. Kibum doesn’t drink a lot of alcohol anyway, he says. That’s not quite the truth but he doesn’t want to make the other man guilty for not having brought more beer.
They talk throughout the night while the fire slowly burn out behind them and the sound dies down. Jonghyun grew up in the bakery with his mother and sister. He refuses to talk about his father, a sour look clouds his face every time someone mentions it. Jinki is not from Vrarc but from a smaller city where his mother and father sell meat. He moved to Vrarc to get a job and now works as a goldsmith. Kibum can’t help himself when he scans the man at the news but nothing about Jinki’s appearance scream goldsmith. Jinki says he makes smaller pieces and Jonghyun laughs and tells Kibum that Jinki is much stronger than he appears.
The more Kibum learns, the more attracted he is to the other man and he doesn’t want to leave them when he becomes tired. Minho is gone already, probably back to the inn without a woman like he usually does and Kibum promises to come by Jonghyun’s bakery in the morning.
He keeps his promise as he enters the small shop of freshly baked goods and Jonghyun sends him a smile when he notices that it’s Kibum. A woman that looks slightly younger than Jonghyun is working at the display, setting up bread and cake to look as appealing as possible. She sends Kibum a smile before she leans in to whisper words in Jonghyun’s ear. Jonghyun nods and sees her leave. Kibum tilts his head as he observes her. There’s something odd about her, something he cannot pinpoint.
“Kibum, goodmorning!” Jonghyun says and effectively destroys Kibum’s train of thought. Kibum smiles and although he buys a piece of bread he makes sure to get directions to the goldsmith as well. He doesn’t know what leads him to stand outside the workshop. There’s a large man working the smithy and only after 5 minutes does he look up and notice Kibum.
“Oh,” he says. “You surprised me. What can I do for you?”
He wipes his hands on his apron and Kibum wets his lip quickly.
“I’m looking for Jinki Sanguine,” he then says and surprises himself a little. He doesn’t know what makes him look for the other man, what makes him come back. But when the smith lights up into a wide grin, he knows that he’s not the first to have asked that question. Jinki sits in a small room in the back, head bowed over a table while his hands work on something much smaller in front of him. Kibum leans over his shoulder and notices the small chain that Jinki is putting together by hand.
“Wow,” he breathes and Jinki almost gets a heart attack at the sound. He turns around in his chair and glares at Kibum before they get eye contact and Kibum can see him visibly relaxing.
“You scared me,” he says and Kibum looks towards the floor.
“I’m sorry.”
Kibum spends the day in the smithy, observing Jinki as he works with nimble fingers. They don’t talk a lot but the things they do talk about has Kibum feeling even more attracted to Jinki. It’s with a sad heart he leaves Jinki and Vrarc behind when Minho goes to find him and tell him they’re going back to Pyulm forest.
Jinki sends him off with a small wave and Kibum is left to his thoughts on the ride home.
They arrive home late in the evening when the moon is high and are greeted by Taemin who immediately flings himself at his brothers.
“Did you kill the witches?” he asks excitedly and Minho launches into a fairytale telling of how they slayed the witches who fought back. Reality had been nothing like that but Taemin listens with wide eyes in fascination so Kibum chimes in at times, only to make their expedition far more thrilling than it had been.
When he lies in his bed that night, he stares into the ceiling and sees the face of a stranger, a man he shouldn’t be thinking about it. It’s almost like witchcraft but the thought has Kibum snorting out loud in the silence. Kibum cannot stop thinking about Jinki, however, and so he does until he falls asleep.
Time goes by and Kibum forgets about Jinki, the goldsmith in Vrarc. He’s sparring with his father in a sword fight to make sure he’s trained when his mother interrupts them.
“There has been a sighting of a powerful Bonethorn witch near Lake Pezul,” she says and their match stops immediately. His father frowns in concern and his mother continues. “Witch hunters from Vrarc have informed me that they already tried, but they’re unable to beat it alone. They’re requesting for assistance.”
Kibum nods when his father looks at him and the two adults leave him alone in the forest. Kibum sinks onto the forest floor and starts drawing in the earth with his sword. He wants to fight the Bonethorn witch too and he hopes his parents will allow him and Minho to join as well.
Bonethorn are said to be the most powerful witches and Kibum has yet to kill one. They are usually located in the East but are so well-integrated in society that they rarely stand out to the humans around them. Minho joins him on the dirt a few minutes later.
“So, I heard mom and dad talking,” he says and Kibum looks up from where he’s drawing in the dirt.
“Yeah. Apparently a Bonethorn witch has been spotted near Pezul,” Kibum explains.
“Ah, I hope we can go!” Minho says slightly hopeful and Kibum nods a little.
“Me too,” he says. The two men get eye contact and Minho grins then.
“That would be our first Bonethorn!” he says excited and Kibum laughs. “We have to rise the prize for this bet!”
Kibum just shakes his head as he continues laughing.
“You’re going to lose anyway,” he says and Minho frowns and pokes him in the side. Kibum lifts his sword and points it towards Minho who instantly gets up and pulls his own.
They start laughing as they jokingly take jabs at each other. The practice session isn’t serious at all, but it is filled with excitement at the thought of hunting their first Bonethorn.
Over dinner their parents tell them that they’re all going to Vrarc before they head towards Lake Pezul to fight the witch with the others. Their mother is missing witch hunting and Taemin is excited to get out of the house and actually see a real witch.
Five days later they all ride through the gates to Vrarc. The city is bustling with people and witch hunters from all around the region. Kibum recognizes a man from Jiorora that their father used to hunt with a couple of years ago. But in the end, he’s left with Minho and Taemin at the inn, their parents joining the hunters that is going after the Bonethorn.
“Why am I babysitting?” Kibum mumbles and frowns. His arms are crossed over his chest. Taemin is running excitedly around in their room. Minho looks just as displeased as Kibum.
“Can we go see the city?” Taemin asks and looks from one of his brothers to the other. “Please, please, please!”
He tugs at Minho shirt before he runs towards Kibum and grabs his hand and tugs at him too. They give up in the end and soon they’re walking down the streets. Taemin is looking wide-eyed at everything the city life entails. Kibum is still grumbling over babysitting Taemin but Minho soon starts to enjoy Taemin’s wide-eyed fascination.
The sun is high on the sky when Taemin starts complaining that he’s hungry. Minho, who hasn’t been looking through the streets in Vrarc very much, frowns because he has no idea where to go for easy food that will satisfy Taemin. Kibum remembers the small bakery and although it’s a small detour to find the small shop, when he finally does find it, he is suddenly face to face with Jinki again.
Jinki sends him a wide smile and Kibum feels oddly small in the shop.
Taemin is looking at all the food while Jonghyun points out the best bread in the shop. Taemin has a hard time choosing, though, and in the end Minho chooses for him and then tries to lower the price in a bargain with Jonghyun. Kibum just keeps looking at Jinki. It’s almost impossible for him to tear his eyes away when Taemin finally grabs his hand and tries to pull away from the store while he munches on his bread. Minho sends him a smirk and Kibum hits his shoulder and glares at him for implying that Kibum is crushing on Jinki.
Kibum is crushing on Jinki. He realizes this two days later when he finds Jinki at the smithy again and watches as Jinki works with a small brooch.
“You should’ve been a jeweller,” Kibum says and Jinki shrugs a little and continues his work without looking up.
“I like working out front as well at times.”
There is silence between them for another 5 minutes before Jinki looks up in triumph, the brooch in his hand. Kibum sends him a wide smile and his heart flutters in his chest at the sight of Jinki.
It’s ridiculous really, because Kibum isn’t one to fall in love quickly but Jinki’s smile is almost magical and his presence is so comfortable Kibum can’t help it.
“Why are you here? You live in the Pyulm forest, right? What brings you to Vrarc again?” Jinki asks an hour later when they sit in front of the fountain on the main square. Minho is fooling around with Taemin on the big square and Kibum has forgotten about them in favour of talking with Jinki.
“We were requested for assistance for the Bonethorn near Pezul,” Kibum explains easily. Jinki just nods a little in thought.
“Of course,” he says after a few seconds. Kibum turns to look at him with a questioning gaze.
“Why?” he asks and Jinki sends him one of those smiles that makes the butterflies in his stomach flutter and his heart stutter.
“I was just wondering. I didn’t think I would see you again.”
There’s silence between them for a few seconds.
“Would you like to see me again?” Kibum asks. This time it’s far more subdued, almost like a whisper. He doesn’t know why he asks, but he knows that if Jinki says no it will hurt him. Kibum never thought a crush on another man would make him feel so vulnerable but here he is, in front of Jinki and feeling exactly that vulnerable. He purses his lips when Jinki doesn’t answer.
“Yes,” Jinki says some time after and Kibum breathes a sigh of relief. When Minho finds them an hour later and demands that Kibum takes some responsibility for his younger brother, Kibum scoffs at him and get into a huge fight. Jinki just pulls Taemin away so he doesn’t have to hear his brothers fight.
When the two brothers stop their argument, they hear Taemin laughing with Jinki as they feed the pigeons. Kibum looks at them with a fond gaze and Minho scoffs.
“You’re so whipped,” he says but Kibum doesn’t retaliate.
He is so whipped and when they have to leave Vrarc again a week later he has realized that not only is he crushing on Jinki, he might legit be falling in love with the other man. Everything Jinki does make Kibum’s heart beat faster in his chest and it’s impossible for Kibum to look at Jinki without a fond gaze. He adores the way he works, the way he plays with Taemin. He drowns in his eyes and in his smile and he does everything he can to initiate contact.
He’s pretty bummed out when they say goodbye and Minho doesn’t even have the heart to . Kibum knows it’s a bad case of unrequited love because there is no reason Jinki would love him but still he analyses every encounter they have, every word Jinki says and tries to find signs that Jinki might have a crush on him too. Kibum’s parents notice but they say nothing as they ride home.
Summer arrives and the heat is unbearable. Training in the heat is horrible and both Minho and Kibum are neglecting their practice to sleep under the shades of the trees. The sun is high on the sky and they’re both sweating when they decide going to Pezul would be a far better option than staying here. Taemin isn’t allowed to come with, something both are grateful for, but soon they head out towards the lake.
They reach the lake in the late afternoon, the sun no longer as hot but the air still warm and uncomfortable. They shed their clothes in a competition on who can jump into the water first, but they don’t expect other people to be in the lake. There is, however. Minho looks around and eyes a group of young people first and with a smile he nods towards them, indicating that he’s going there to meet new friends. Kibum just sinks below the surface with a nod.
When he comes up again, he feels better, cooler, and the air is no longer as uncomfortable as before. He hears someone laugh behind him, only to find Jinki and Jonghyun. It makes him feel self-conscious and he dips into the water again, trying to hide. Jinki sheds his clothes as well and Jonghyun settles on the shoreline. Kibum feels his cheeks turn pink and he turns away from the two men so he doesn’t have to look at Jinki’s form.
He doesn’t know how much time passes before someone dunks his head into the lake and when he comes up for air he sees Jinki grinning widely behind him.
“Hey Kibum,” he greets and Kibum blushes a little before he steels himself.
“I could’ve drowned, you fool,” he scolds instead and Jinki laughs. His laughter has Kibum melting a little but he schools his frown into one of annoyance.
“Oh come on, I would have saved you before that happened.”
They spend the evening in the lake, Jonghyun reading on the shoreline and sometimes shouting to Jinki who plays with Kibum in the water. When Jonghyun gets up and puts his book away, he looks over the lake to find his friend.
“Hey, Jinki, I’m going home,” he shouts and Jinki just nods. Kibum shivers in the water that has turned colder with the evening and Jinki suggests they, too, start heading home. Kibum has a long way home after all.
They sit on the shoreline, soaking up the last of the sun and letting it warm their bare skin while Jinki talks about the lake. Kibum just listens, carefully making sure his eyes stay on Jinki’s face and doesn’t linger on his muscular body.
“We should get dressed,” Kibum says when he’s almost dry and Jinki nods a little. None of them makes any movement to get, however, and they continue sitting in now silence on the shoreline.
Kibum turns his head to ask Jinki if he has seen Minho but what meets him is the press of lips on his. It’s fleeting but it has Kibum’s mind short circuiting and he freezes, heart hammering in his chest. Jinki realises that it isn’t Kibum’s cheek and pulls back, flushed and panicking.
“I…” he says but Kibum interrupts him when he leans in again, effectively shutting him up. The kiss is innocent enough and when they pull away Kibum looks towards the ground beneath them.
“Um,” he says and there’s silence around them. Jinki doesn’t say anything. When Kibum can’t take the silence anymore he gets up and goes to find his clothes. He’s almost dressed when Jinki joins him, only in his trousers.
“Kibum,” he says and Kibum turns around to look at him. “I like you.”
Kibum blinks at the confession before he realizes how hard his heart is beating and he can’t stop himself when he kisses Jinki again. This time none of them freeze up.
“So this is the man that has won your heart?” his mother says when she meets Jinki for the first time. Kibum nods a little and bites his lower lip. He doesn’t know how she is going to react now that he has someone he loves, but she doesn’t seem to be angry. Jinki greets her shyly but lights up in a smile when he sees Taemin. Their fingers are interlaced and Kibum finds comfort in Jinki’s warmth, even though he should be the supportive one in front of his parents. “What are you?”
“A goldsmith, ma’am,” Jinki answers and Kibum closes his eyes in anticipation.
“Do you live in Vrarc?” she asks again. Kibum can’t hear Jinki’s answer so he assumes he nods. He still has his eyes closed. He can feel Jinki squeezing his hand but he doesn’t dare squeeze back.
“Yes,” he says. When Kibum opens his eyes his mother is looking at them.
“Tell me about yourself,” she says then and leads them into the kitchen.
Jinki isn’t used to walking around in the forest. It’s very much obvious in the way he constantly stumbles over roots and rocks and Kibum jokes that he has to carry Jinki. Jinki refuses being carried, though, and just asks Kibum to walk a little slower.
They reach their destination a little later, the large rocks hidden behind the dense forest. Jinki blinks when Kibum releases his hand and starts climbing one of the larger rocks.
“Come on,” Kibum says and reaches a hand out towards Jinki. They’re sitting on the rock, overlooking the entrance to the Cluhox caves. Kibum leans against Jinki’s shoulder and Jinki just smiles as the sun sets in the horizon over the trees.
“This is my absolute favorite place,” Kibum admits after a minute or two. “When you are silent you can hear the Cucullata sing and if you’re really lucky a Lemacine might venture out of the caves. I’ve never really spent time in the caves but I like the atmosphere out here.”
Jinki hums and presses a kiss to Kibum’s temple.
They quiet down, enjoying the sun setting and the Cucullata singing their mating song.
Jinki even finds wild Poisonwall Groundberry when they get off of the rock. Kibum laughs when Jinki plucks a berry and throws it at him. They end their small fight with a kiss and when they cuddle into Kibum’s mattress in the evening, Kibum feels his heart at ease.
The more time they spend together, the more does Kibum consider moving to Vrarc. He hates being separated from Jinki when he can’t stay in Vrarc because of a job or because his parents demand him at home. Jinki obviously can’t spend all his time in the forest with Kibum either; he has a job to attend and it requires him to be in Vrarc most of the time.
Kibum suggests moving in 6 months later, right before he’s about to leave Vrarc again to head back home. Jinki blinks at him and Kibum worries his bottom lip between his teeth. Was this too soon? Then Jinki lights up into a face-splitting grin and embraces Kibum. Kibum doesn’t leave Vrarc that day anyway.
Taemin tries hard not to show his tears when Kibum brings the news home. His parents share a look and Minho is grinning knowingly. Kibum ignores his brothers, however, as he turns to his parents to practically beg them to let him move in with Jinki. He wants to be with Jinki.
They agree reluctantly but Kibum promises to send letters and visit often. He promises Taemin that he can visit them in Vrarc whenever he wants and that when he starts hunting, Kibum will come back so they can hunt together. Taemin agrees to send him off with tears rolling down his cheeks and Kibum offers him a hug.
When Kibum stands and looks at his parents, he can see his mother’s wet eyes and he sends her a soft smile.
“You know I’ll be fine,” he says and she nods. Minho chuckles at the sight of their mother but their father sends him a glance that has him stopping immediately. Kibum hugs all his family members and promises to visit soon. He’s not farther away.
“Kibum,” Jinki says and walks into the small house they share. Kibum looks up from where he’s reading a book.
“Yes?” he asks and raises an eyebrow. He’s sitting on the small couch. Jinki sinks down next to his feet and smiles.
“I love you,” he says and hands Kibum a small golden ring. “I made it today. I’ve been collecting excess gold without their knowledge from when I fix jewellery. Look at the inside.” Kibum turns the ring in his hands and notices a foreign language. “It says I love you in Aurari.”
Kibum blushes a little and lets the ring slip onto his finger.
“I love you,” he says and leans closer so he can kiss Jinki. When he pulls away a thought enters his mind. “How do you know Aurari?”
Jinki shrugs a little and leans in so he can kiss Kibum again.
“My mom taught me. It’s not important.”
Kibum forgets when he kisses Jinki again.
Spring comes and goes and soon it’s summer again, a year since Jinki kissed Kibum near Lake Pezul. Kibum is more in love than he has ever been and every glance at Jinki makes him proud of the other man. Jinki is working in the smithy and Kibum has left their house to buy a cake at Crumbs and say hello to Jonghyun.
Kibum doesn’t consider it an official anniversary, not really, but he wants to celebrate anyway when Jinki is off. The minute he steps into the bakery, however, he gets an odd sensation. Something is awfully wrong. He looks around in the shop, but it’s empty.
“Hello?” he calls into the shop but gets no answer. As he moves closer to the counter, he hears a low whisper from the back room. “Anybody here?”
The whispers disappear and Kibum suddenly recognises them. They’re witchcraft, whispered low in the back room in Shemari, the lost language of the Shadowguards. He takes a step back, anger boiling within and he regrets not bringing his daggers like he usually does.
“Jonghyun?” he calls out. The witch has killed his friend, he’s convinced of it, until said man steps out from the back room and sends Kibum a confused glance and a raised eyebrow.
“What’s wrong?” he says and Kibum notices how tense his body is.
“There’s a witch here,” Kibum warns and Jonghyun laughs.
“What are you talking about Kibum?” he asks but Kibum can’t relax, not yet. He heard the spells whispered in Shemari, there has to be a Shadowguard witch in the bakery and Kibum cannot let it kill Jonghyun.
“There’s a witch here, leave. I’ll kill it.”
Jonghyun shakes his head in a motion that suggests that Kibum has lost it but Kibum is sure.
“Did you need anything?” Jonghyun asks instead and Kibum leaves the bakery without a word, highly alert and with all his senses reaching out to find anything unusual. He doesn’t find the Shadowguard witch, however.
Kibum tells Jinki in the evening and Jinki frowns a little.
“Are you sure?” he asks and Kibum nods.
“100 % certain.”
Jinki reaches out to grab his hand and gently his palm. Kibum relaxes a little with the motion.
“There is no way you could’ve been wrong? It could have been the whispers of the fire or something like that.”
Kibum turns to glare incredulously at him.
“Jinki, I’m a hunter, a damn good one at that. I know what I heard and it was witchcraft in Shemari.” Jinki just nods at that and Kibum feels odd. “I’m going back tomorrow to kill it.”
They stare at each other until Jinki sighs and pulls him close in an embrace. He doesn’t say anything and Kibum looks at him with a questioning glance. He doesn’t get an answer but he does relax.
When he goes back the next day, Jonghyun is removing a few shelves from the wall, the display of bread much smaller than it usually is. Kibum looks at him and tilts his head.
“What’s going on?” he asks and Jonghyun turns around to look at him with a smile.
“Jinki told me you were being serious about the witch, so I’m moving shop. There really isn’t anyone here but if it’s haunted or something, it might be better just to find somewhere else.”
Kibum nods in understanding but asks if he can look in the backroom anyway. He has his daggers hidden in his sleeve and his senses sharpened in on finding the witch but there is nobody but Jonghyun in the room, just like Jonghyun had said. It annoys him, but he accepts defeat this time around.
He will get the Shadowguard witch when he finds it again.
When the leaves start turning yellow and red in autumn, Kibum starts feeling restless. There hasn’t been many sightings and it bothers him. That means that the witches are getting better at hiding in public, posing as humans, and it causes a threat.
He’s in the kitchen, looking through spices to the chicken he’s going to cook for Jinki, when he finds a secret compartment in the last drawer. He raises an eyebrow but stubbornly wrestles with the fake bottom until he has revealed underneath. In the fake compartment lies bundles of Ichenis and Slatimin, dried Green Phlebia fungi, bark from the corrupting oak, Sie roots and feathers from the Batara Nebouxii.
He stares at the ingredients for witchcraft, not fully understand what exactly he has found. In the bottom lies an old book. Kibum takes the book, rustling the other ingredients as he lifts the book out and starts looking. The language is Aurari and it looks like a cookbook of sorts, the written script hard to read.
When it hits him that Jinki really has hidden all this from him he first gets awfully disappointed in himself. How come he hadn’t been able to sense that Jinki wasn’t human. Then he gets angry because even with all the evidence laid out before him, he still can’t believe that Jinki is a witch. He still can’t believe that the one he loves is also a part of everything he has hated all his life, is one of those he has dedicated his life to destroy, to kill.
When Jinki arrives home, Kibum sits on the couch, ingredients and cookbook laid before him on the small table.
“Hey dar…” Jinki says before he eyes his crime on the table and interrupts himself. “I…” he says but the swallows his words.
“Explain,” Kibum says, word cold and gaze calculating. He doesn’t have his weapons with him in the living room and he’s sure that he wouldn’t be able to kill Jinki. He loves him too much and the hatred is buried under uncertainty.
“My name is not Jinki Sanguine,” Jinki says instead. “It’s Jinki Lee.”
The silence between them as Kibum swallows his words is oppressive. Kibum can’t believe it. The man he loves is a witch. This is the proof.
“Waterhood?” Kibum asks in a whisper and Jinki shakes his head.
“Bellowpike. Kibum, I’m sorry! I didn’t want you to find out this way. I love you, I really do.”
He reaches out to touch Kibum’s shoulder but Kibum pushes him away.
“Leave me alone,” he says.
He doesn’t want to kill Jinki but he can’t possibly live and love a Bellowpike witch. He can’t possibly love someone who lied to him. Kibum knows, that rationally Jinki had to lie to even stay alive, there was no way Kibum would have let him get away had he known he was a Bellowpike witch the first time they met, but this is no longer the first time they meet and he’s in love with the witch on the couch next to him. So horribly in love.
He gets up but so does Jinki.
“Kibum, don’t leave me. I’d rather you kill me, don’t leave me. Please.”
Kibum turns towards the front door. He could go back, get his daggers, his poisoned arrows and shoot Jinki in the heart, watch him die and open a small fire somewhere where he could burn his lover but Kibum doesn’t want to kill Jinki. He can’t lose Jinki like that, he’s not heartless. He could find Minho, ask him to kill Jinki for him and suffer the loss, knowing that he has done good. He could cry in his mother’s lap and mourn the loss of a lover that should never have been a lover. But for some reason, Kibum doesn’t want to do either.
He turns back towards Jinki, stares at him in anger when he finally realises what dilemma he is in.
“I hate you,” he says, ice cold. The air around them turns colder, the temperature dropping a few degrees and he can see the look in Jinki’s eyes shift.
“Kibum,” he tries but Kibum is too angry, too emotional. The temperature keeps dropping around them slowly but steadly. Kibum takes a few steps towards Jinki and slaps his cheek. It should have left a mark but it sends Jinki into the wall on the other side of the living room. Kibum stares at his hand with fear when he realises that he just punched Jinki through the room. Jinki stares at him with wide eyes.
“Kibum,” Jinki says again but Kibum leaves, this time without looking back. This can only mean one thing, and that is one thing he doesn’t want to acknowledge. This is not true.
He slams the front door, hurries down the streets, eyes locked in front of him as he finds his mare and gets up.
Kibum rides all evening and all night until he hits the city of Yeeteka. The orphanage is a ruin but there are still kids playing in the ruined garden in front. The city has suffered since Kibum was a child, people moving away to find better jobs elsewhere.
When he realises what he’s about to do, he stops in front of the gate. If he knows everything will be different, his entire life will be ruined. Not only will it destroy his family, it will destroy everything he has ever believed to be the truth. Time stands still while he weighs pros and cons but he needs to know, he needs to know now.
He enters the orphanage and a couple of the children playing looks up with wide eyes. A small girl calls out to him in the hopes of getting adopted but Kibum is not here to get a child. He ignores them and finds the counter. The sharp-nosed woman behind the counter looks up with eagle eyes and rough grey hair.
“What?” she asks aggressively.
“I need the files on Kibum Qitas,” he says. The woman squints at him.
“Sorry, they’re confidential,” she says and then looks down towards the papers on her desk. Kibum can hear himself growl almost ferally as he leans over the counter and demands for the files again. The woman doesn’t bow down, however, not even when Kibum tells him who he is. He leaves the orphanage without new knowledge.
He wanders the streets of Yeeteka when he recognizes the facial features of one of them men that pass him.
“Woohyun!” he says in disbelief and the man reacts. They stare at each other.
“Kibum?” the other man says and Kibum nods, lump filling his throat. Woohyun blinks in disbelief before he lights up in a small smile. “It really is you?”
Kibum nods again.
Woohyun brings Kibum home with him. He has a wife and 3 kids already, a 4th on the way. Woohyun’s wife makes tea and smiles kindly to the stranger that claims to know her husband. Kibum feels strange in the household. He hasn’t spoken to Woohyun since he got adopted as a 7-year-old and seeing him now, years later is strange. Being here because of other circumstances and not to catch up has him feeling a little guilty. Still he needs to ask.
“Woohyun, do you know my real last name?”
Kibum doesn’t remember a time where he has ever been called his last name before getting adopted. Woohyun shakes his head.
“No. I’m sorry. Why?”
Kibum doesn’t tell him why he’s looking for his last name, but he does tell him about the Qitas and how his life has been so far. He leaves out the last year with Jinki, not ready to admit that he is in love with one of the witches he has been hunting since he was 8.
When he lies awake in the guest room, he stares at the ceiling and a pang of heartache enters his body again.
The next morning Woohyun hands Kibum a copy of the files from the orphanage. Kibum looks at him with a raised eyebrow and a question and Woohyun just sends him a smirk. Kibum never gets to know where he has them from. On the front page is the name he was left with when someone handed him over to the orphanage. Below is the name he leaves with.
Kibum Kim.
Kibum Qitas.
He stares at the names before he stands up. He needs to get back. He thanks Woohyun for his hospitality.
The travel home is longer and Kibum rests multiple times on his way, letting his mare rest far more than necessary. He keeps thinking over everything. He’s not a human. He can’t possibly be with the last name Kim. How come his parents don’t know if they adopted him? Did they not see his name before they got him or did they trust the orphanage’s word that he was as human as the rest of the children? Kibum can’t find the answers to his questions and he confuses himself more than he manages to make sense of anything.
When he finally rides through the gates of Vrarc, it’s to find their house empty. Jinki isn’t there and a strong fear surges through Kibum. He doesn’t know if Jinki has done something stupid. He hasn’t heard any notice of a Bellowpike witch from his fellow hunters but that doesn’t mean Jinki hasn’t done anything anyway.
He rushes through the streets until he finds Jonghyun’s new bakery and bursts inside. The store is empty but he can hear voices from behind. Kibum slows down and as silent as he possibly can be, sneaks behind the counter and into the backroom, just to see Jonghyun hand Jinki a glass filled with a pink liquid. Jinki sends him a small smile and says something in a language Kibum identifies as Shemari. Jonghyun answers in Shemari and it is then that Kibum realises that the Shadowguard witch he had heard earlier was Jonghyun. How he hadn’t connected the dots at the time, he has no idea.
He watches as Jinki downs the liquid and hands the glass back to Jonghyun. He stands frozen to the ground, heart beating in his chest at the sight of the man his love and the secrets that are finally getting unveiled.
Jonghyun looks towards him and they get eye contact. He can almost see Jonghyun’s eyes glaze over and how he becomes protective of Jinki in the chair. He can see the way Jonghyun steps in front of Jinki, should Kibum have weapons with him.
“What do you want?” Jonghyun asks, voice ice cold and strong.
“I need to talk to Jinki,” Kibum says and suddenly feels very small in the room. The temperature rises a few degrees as Jonghyun looks at Jinki before he looks back to Kibum.
“I can’t allow that.”
“Please Jonghyun,” Kibum begs but Jonghyun stands his ground.
“You’ll have to go through me.”
Jinki looks towards the floor and Kibum’s heart sinks in his chest.
“I don’t want to fight you Jonghyun,” Kibum says. “We both know I could kill you, but I don’t want to. I’m not going to kill Jinki either. I love him, for God’s sake. I need him.”
Jinki looks up at Kibum’s words and Kibum’s heart start beating again. Jonghyun narrows his eyes.
“You’re going to rat him out to your hunter-family.”
The tension in the small bakery is so high that when the temperature starts rising a few degrees again, Kibum feels a bead of sweat roll over his temple.
“I’m not, I promise… I … I’m a Kim.”
The words silence the room and the temperature drops so rapidly it has goosebumps rising on Kibum’s forearm. Jinki rises from the chair and looks over Jonghyun’s shoulder.
“What?” he whispers and Kibum nods. Their eyes meet and Kibum bites his lower lip to keep himself from crying.
“I’m a witch…”
Saying the words out loud forces the dilemma and confused thoughts through Kibum again and he can’t help the tear that slips down his cheek. He’s looking towards the floor when he feels Jinki’s warm embrace and sobs into his shoulder. They say nothing. Kibum knows that Jinki knows, has seen the witchcraft in Kibum the minute Kibum slammed him into the wall, but saying it out loud is enough to really make the information sink in.
“I’m a Kim,” he whispers again into Jinki’s shoulder.
Kibum doesn’t know how long he cries before he pulls away from Jinki and dries his eyes. Jonghyun is standing on the side while Jinki sits down on the chair again, Kibum pulled into his lap this time.
“What kind of Kim?” Jinki asks and Kibum shakes his head.
“I don’t know.”
“I’m a Kim too,” Jonghyun says a little later. “But you’re not a Shadowguard. I would’ve known if you were…”
Kibum looks up to find Jonghyun with a small guilty smile.
“I’m sorry about earlier.”
Kibum just shakes his head. He would have done the same if he had been in Jonghyun’s position.
“But if I’m not a Shadowguard, then I can be practically anything.”
Jinki shakes his head a little.
“No. Ebonforges are healers only. The only Kim-clans that can lower the temperature are Charfords and Frostwells.”
Both Jonghyun and Kibum turn to Jinki.
“How do you know?” Jonghyun asks and Jinki sends him a small smile.
“My mother left me with a majority of books on witchcraft. You know how Bellowpikes love knowledge.”
Kibum then realises that what he knows about witchcraft is so little. There are communities and clans he has never heard of before, traits of each clan he has no ideas even existed. He doesn’t know some clans can change the temperature or that there are multiple clans within each surname. He doesn’t know that Bellowpikes are the librarians of the witch community and keeps tracks of their history.
There are so many things he doesn’t know.
“Wait… Left you?” he asks when Jinki’s words really sink in. Jinki just nods a little.
“She’s dead.”
Kibum knows Jinki withholds information when he says that. He can see in his eyes how he really means to say ‘killed’ and Kibum knows that it was hunters. Hunters who has taken Jinki’s mother away from him long before they should have been separated.
Kibum starts crying again. All this new knowledge of how wrong hunting is hurts and he doesn’t know which side he’s on. Jinki just rocks him back and forth, trying to comfort him silently. Kibum feels so vulnerable.
“Okay, so let me get this straight,” Kibum says. “Waterhoods, Bellowpikes, Thunderlaws and Jadefalls are all Lee’s. Shadowguards, Ebonforges, Charfords and Frostwells are all Kim’s. Chaosarrows and Goldenbrands are Park’s. Bonethorns are Choi’s. Felpikes are Kang’s. Brightbows are Zeng’s.”
Jinki nods and thumbs his cheek gently.
“Yes. Zeng’s are really rare.”
They’re sitting on the couch, Kibum in Jinki’s lap. Their fingers are laced and Jinki has promised to teach Kibum the things he doesn’t know. Kibum still hasn’t decided on which side to stand, but he loves Jinki too much to kill him and the newfound knowledge that he’s a witch too, might be the reason he was such a superior hunter compared to his human family.
He still doesn’t like witches as a species and it terrifies him that he’s both a witch and in love with one. But he has promised himself to learn before he makes a decision.
“Jinki,” he says and Jinki looks at him. “I still love you, you know. I know this is new and all but …” Kibum doesn’t get to finish his sentence before Jinki kisses him.
“I love you too. Whatever decision you make, I love you.”
Author's Note Thanks for reading!
I hate titles. Sorry. ;;
Comments are appreciated.
I hate titles. Sorry. ;;
Comments are appreciated.
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