-Youngjae's POV-

"What?!" my eyes shot wide at the sudden news. Zelo nodded. "They're leaving this morning." he added.

"Why didn't anyone tell me?" I felt my heart sink to the pit of my stomach. "I was going to tell you, but Jiho told me not to." Zelo continued to speak quietly, unable to look me in the eye.

I gritted my teeth, doing my best to hold back my tears. "Where are they?" I asked, afraid that I already knew the answer. "They're at the front entrance of the camp." Zelo answered. With that I dropped my stuff and ran out of the cabin, not bothering to say anything else.

It's only been a few days since Zelo was kidnapped and brought back, and now Jiho and the rest of my friends are going overseas?! To fight?!

My heart sunk further into the bottomless pit of my stomach. This couldn't be happening...not to me. Why does it have to be so far?! Why overseas?! Why can't they stay here?? Or come with us. This isn't fair!

When I made it to the front if the camp I saw that everyone was there saying goodbye to the 7 mischievous boys. Why didn't they tell me?

I pushed passed everyone, not really caring to be polite, and squeezed my way to the front where the 7 of them smiled and chatted with their new friends who they were now leaving behind. I just stood there in shock and denial. This couldn't actually be happening.

I bit my bottom lip trying hard to fight back the tears. No, they can't go. They just...can't. Jiho was the first to spot me.

"Hey Youngjae!" he smiled walking up to me. I only looked at him with hurt eyes. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" he teased. "Tell me that this isn't true." I finally said.

His smile slowly faded, transforming into a sad one, but he didn't say anything. My bottom lip quivered. "Why didn't you tell me?" I could barely say as a lump formed in my throat. "Because I know you'd convince us otherwise." he chuckled lightly, but I didn't find it funny at all. "Why overseas? You don't know how to steer a ship or a boat. None of you do. You've never even been on one." I said.

"We won't be alone. There are others coming with us. Our job is just to lead them into battle." he assured. "Why?" I could barely say.

"I told you we were that good." he smiled. I slowly shook my head. No.

"Let me go with you!" I suddenly burst.

He frowned at this. "You know you can't." he said. "Yes I can. Why not??" I argued.

"Because you have another job to do." he said giving a small smile. I only shook my head. "No. I'll fight with you guys. I'm going with you. I'm not leaving you alone." I insisted.

"Youngjae, we're not alone. We still have each other." he sighed. It was becoming more and more difficult to fight back my tears. "...then don't leave me alone." I barely whispered.

He rested a hand on my shoulder. "You're not alone Youngjae. You have Zelo, Bang, Jongup, Himchan, and you have Daehyun. You're not going to be alone." He told me. "Jiho..." I shook my head unable to hold back my tears any longer. "Why so far away? How can you accept a task like this?" I sniffled, letting the tears run freely down my cheek.

"They said they felt this would be the best task for us and we'd be the best people to lead it." he said.

"So? That doesn't mean you have to do it."

"Youngjae, I wanted to do it. We wanted to do it. We want to contribute to this war as much as we can. For once we can actually defend ourselves."

I didn't say anything, so he continued, "This is more than just us. We're fighting for people who can't defend themselves."

I broke down in front of him.

He was right. He was so right. But I still didn't want them to go. I don't want them to go. I didn't even want them to fight in general. But overseas? That's so far and dangerous. And I can't lose them, not a single one of them. "Jiho please..." I begged, but he didn't respond.

"Awe! Youngjae! Don't cry!" I heard Jihoon say running over to us, the others following behind. "Don't worry, we'll be back! We'll see each other again." Jihoon promised.

"Yah! Don't worry about us Youngjae, we won't die so easily!" Kyung said. Jaehyo elbowed him in the side. "What?" Kyung said, holding his side in pain. The elder only shook his head. "Besides, I can't allow a single scratch on my beautiful face." Kyung added.

"We'll be fine." Ukwon said, resting a hand on my shoulder, beaming a smile. "Just make sure you're fine." he winked.

"Alright you guys. Time to go. I'll take you to the ship. The others are already there." Lee called walking up to the front of the small crowd. I felt my heart sink even deeper. "Group hug!" Jihoon sang squeezing the 8 of us into a tight hug without warning.

"Ugh. Jihoon stop. I don't like being this close to you guys. You smell." Kyung groaned. "Shut up Kyung." Ukwon remarked. "Yah! What did you say?!" Kyung snapped back.

I couldn't stop crying. I'm going to miss them so much.

At that moment Himchan, Jongup, Bang, Zelo, and Daehyun walked up to us.

"Man it's going to be boring without you guys." Jongup said as we released our group hug. "I'll pray for you." Jihoon sincerely offered. He patted the younger's shoulder.

"Be careful out there." Himchan said with much concern. "We will. Especially with Jaehyo here as our safety police." Minhyuk assured, only to receive an eye roll from the said member.

"Zelo, you better practice your rapping because when I get back I'm going to be the best rapper ever." Kyung warned. Zelo chuckled at this, "Okay hyung." he laughed.

 

"Good luck. Make sure you guys work together." Bang advised. "I don't think that'll be a problem." Jiho chuckled slightly. Bang smiled at this and nodded with approval.

"Daehyun, don't forget. You can't date Youngjae. So don't think that you can because I'm not here." Jihoon reminded. Daehyun only smiled, "Come back safely." was all he said.

Jiho smiled at me. "Jiho...don't go." I sniffled, wiping my tears with the back of my wrist. "See you later Youngjae." he said and with that the 7 of them turned around and started heading towards the front.

I felt my heart snap. "No!" I cried, about to run to them when Bang stopped me by placing a hand on my shoulder. “Youngjae don’t. This is just as hard for him as it is for you.” He said.

I paused and watched as Jiho said goodbye to some of the other friends he had made at the camp. My eyes slightly widened, Jiho’s eyes were glossy. Although he was confident and assuring there was sadness prominent in his eyes.

I pulled away from Bang and ran up to the entrance of e camp where they had walked away and followed Lee. “Guys!” I called, tears still streaming uncontrollably down my cheeks. The 7 of them all turned around to face me. “Good Luck! I believe in you guys!” I called.

“Make sure you win!”

They all smiled at this. “We will.” Taeil promised.

“You bet! No one can beat us!” Kyung cheered.

I couldn’t help but smile. “See you guys later!” I called back to them. Jiho smiled at this, the sadness fading from his eyes. “See you later Jae!” he yelled back.

And with that the seven of them turned back around, running to Lee who hadn’t stopped walking and was now far ahead of them. I watched them as they jumped and skipped happily, messing with one of them. Daehyun and the others walked up to me standing next to me, watching them as well. I noticed a stray tear run down Zelo’s cheek watching them. “They’ll be alright.” Bang assured, a smile on his face, he was confident in them. “We just have to do our part.” Himchan and Jongup nodded silently to agreement.

I felt my smile fade away as they disappeared, no longer in sight, unable to be seen or heard anymore. I immediately buried my face into Daehyun’s chest, unable to hold back the fresh of tears that poured down my cheeks.

 

-Daehyun’s POV-

Youngjae went back to the cabin and stayed in the room alone for the rest of the day. “Ah~, someone has gotten a lot better with their swordsmanship.” Bang said after we finished training and fighting each other.

I scoffed at this. “Of course I’ve gotten better. I have to be better than you guys, with your fancy magical powers and vampire strength.” I remarked. Bang only chuckled at this. “Do you think Youngjae is okay? He’s been in that room all day.” Zelo said. He leaned forward against the fence, watching us train, although his mind had been somewhere else the whole time.

“He’ll be fine. He just need to be alone right now and recollect himself.” I assured the younger. “Wow~! Is this the same Jung Daehyun? Or was another spell placed on you?” Yongguk teased. I rolled my eyes. I honestly did want to stay with him and comfort him, but nothing can really comfort him. This was something he had to do on his own. “I do wish I could help though.” I sighed.

Bang walked over to me and gently patted my back. “You’ve helped a lot. More than you think.” He assured me. I just nodded.

“Hey guys.” Kris greeted walking up next to Zelo. “Hey Kris.” Zelo returned the greeting. “You guys working hard?” Kris smiled proudly. The three of us nodded. “Good.” He said sounding pleased. “You seem happy.” I pointed out. “How come?” I asked curiously. He just shrugged. “I don’t know.” He shrugged honestly.

“Lee is back, and he just heard some news. He wants us to meet at the tent now.” Kris told us, getting straight to business. The three of us nodded.

“I’ll go get Youngjae.” Zelo volunteered. “Min already went to get him and Tae went to get Jongup and Himchan.” Kris informed and with that he left first.

Bang and I looked at each other, sensing the urgency that hid behind the Shadow Seeker’s voice. “He sounded serious. I wonder what it could be.” Zelo though aloud to himself. But Bang and I were thinking the same thing. It’s time.

Everyone was already inside the tent by the time we had arrived. They were all surrounding the oval-shaped table with lee and Kris at either heads of the wooden table. Yongguk and Zelo stood by Jongup and Himchan. I walked over to the other side of the table next to Youngjae who stood by Min and Tae.

“You okay?” I asked him. His eyes were swollen and pink and his cheeks tear-stained. He nodded silently. “Let’s get straight to business.” Lee said as everyone’s attention shifted to him.

“The spies I had sent out earlier to that DM camp by us, came back and reported that the Dark magic’s next attack will be at Moonlight Bay Kingdom.” He began. I raised an eyebrow at this. “We cannot let them take over Moonlight Bay. If they do…the war is over. That’s where all of our needed resources come from. So, if they conquer Moonlight Bay…we lose.” He said.

Zelo’s eye widened at this. “So that’s where it was.” He gasped, earning everyone’s attention. “Where what was?” Himchan questioned. “When I was being held captive I had a really long dream. And there was a part where it showed us fighting. I couldn’t tell where we were…but it looked familiar. But that’s where we were!” he explained, excited that he figured it out.

Lee raised an eyebrow at this. “So, were you planning on sending us there?” Jongup asked this time, turning back to Lee. “I was going to say that we need to be there to protect the kingdom…but I think things just got interesting.” He said, his eyes never leaving the maknae.

“You said we were fighting against…who?” Lee questioned.

“Against Karina. Aires, Taecyeon, Minzy and jasmine were all there too.” Zelo answered as if it were obvious. Lee smirked at this. “That’s what I thought.” He said before straightening up again.

“I spoke to Kuam and the others today, and they agreed to leave the kingdom by tomorrow morning.” He said getting back to business. “They sent a message to the citizens of the kingdom to prepare to evacuate and go into hiding by the end of this week. Security has went up on high alert. So all of the guards are out surrounding and roaming the kingdom. But it looks like we’re going to meet Karina and her minions there too.” Lee said.

“Shouldn’t you stay? Since the rest of the Council of Five members are evacuating?” Tae questioned. Lee scoffed at this. “Um no…I’m not going to run away from a fight…And…we have to work as a team remember?” Lee said earning a smile from Kris.

"And I have something to settle with that backstabbing and my evil brat as a sister." He added.

"Do you know where they're attacking?" Bang asked. The elder vampire shook his head. "But we're not gonna waste any time. We're leaving the day after tomorrow. So get ready." Lee said. Everyone nodded. "So who's going to be in charge of the camp, since you won't be here?" Min asked.

"I already spoke to Suho. He's going to take over." Lee answered.

Min made an 'O' shape with his mouth and nodded. "Any more questions?" Lee asked.

No one said anything, taking in the new information. We were going to face Karina soon...again.

"Good." Lee said folding his arms. "How about we do something?" Kris spoke up.

"We haven't done anything with just the 10 of us in a while." Kris suggested. "Ooh! Like another scary story time?" Min chirped. "Ah~, you read my mind." Kris smirked.

"Ugh, I don't want to hear another one of your lame stories. I rather play a game." Lee said a devious smile on his face. Zelo shivered at this. "No, I don't want to play hide and seek again." he said, shaking his head fervently.

"I want to hear a scary story!" Min protested.

Lee rolled his eyes at this. "Why? You two always get terrified afterwards." He said, not wanting to deal with the twins when they get scared. "No I don't! That's Tae who gets scared." Min defended. "What?! I don't get scared!" Tae argued.

"I have a new story actually. I heard it earlier this week. Even I got chills when I heard it. It might even scare you a little bit Lee." Kris said. Lee scoffed, accepting the challenge. "I'm not scared of some story. Fine, is everyone else down for Kris's story time?" Lee asked the rest of us.

We all nodded.

Min clapped in excitement. "We can create a campfire! And sit around it and tell stories while we eat! Like we used to!" he exclaimed. "Oh yeah! And this time we can get marshmallows and roast them!" Tae squealed, sharing his brother's excitement. "That sounds like fun." Himchan agreed, liking the idea.

"Yay! I'll set up the fire!" Min cheered dashing out the tent. "I'll get the marshmallows!" Tae announced, skipping out the tent as well.

"Um, I thought Min can't set up a fire because he's part Vampire." Jongup said. Lee just shook his head, sighing. "I'll set up the fire." Himchan said, quickly heading out the tent to stop Min. The rest of us went to the mess hall to grab our plate of food while Lee and Bang went hunting.

By the time everyone was ready, the fire was already set up and Tae had come with several bags of marshmallows. There were no logs to sit on, so we just sat on the ground and surrounded the camp fire.

"What are you doing with that bag of marshmallows?" Youngjae questioned as I sat down next to him. "What? Tae brought a lot of them, so I figured I'd take a bag for myself. There's still enough for everyone else." I said. He shook his head.

I happily placed 3 marshmallows on my stick. Youngjae watched me and shook his head again. "What? You want some?" I asked. "No." he said, a small smile on his face.

I scooted closer to the fire placing my stick of marshmallows carefully above the flames. I bit my bottom lip, focusing on roasting the perfect marshmallows, turning it with caution.

I finally smiled after a few seconds and scooted back next to Youngjae. I sat there proudly admiring my work of art. The marshmallows came out perfectly toasted with a warm light brown color.

"Marshmallows!" Min cheered sticking 5 marshmallows on his stick. Then he stuck them straight into the flames. After a few seconds he pulled it out, revealing 5 freshly burnt marshmallows. Min his lips before shoving two of his overcooked deserts into his mouth.

"Mmm..." he hummed in satisfaction. "My turn!" Tae jumped.

"Are they really that good?" Youngjae suddenly asked after seeing everyone enjoy their tasty treats. Even Lee had his own share of them. "Of course they are!" I told him. He only nodded. "Why?" I asked. He shrugged, "I've never had them before."

My jaw dropped at this. "What?! You've never had marshmallows before?!" I repeated in shock.

He frowned at my reaction. "Seriously Daehyun?" he said, threatening to hit me.

"Sorry, I forgot." I smiled cheekily.

He only shook his head for a third time.

"Here. Try some." I said taking a marshmallow from my stick. He shook his head. "I don't want to try it and then end up liking it when I know I won't be able to have it again." he said. "Come on, try it. And if you like it, and you want more later on, I'll just get you some." I smiled.

His eyes slightly widened, but then softened a little. "You haven't changed at all." he said more to himself. "Here." I insisted, feeding him the warm, soft, sticky treat.

He chewed it for a little bit before making a face. "That's gross." he grimaced once he finished chewing.

I scoffed.

"I think I can live without that." he stated. "Fine, suit yourself. That means more for me." I said stuffing the remaining 2 treats in my mouth before adding 3 more on the stick to roast.

"You guys ready?" Kris asked once everyone was comfortable and had eaten most of their food. "Yeah!" Min cheered. "Okay, let's get started." Kris said.

Youngjae wrapped the blanket (that he had brought with him) around himself, and rested his head comfortably on my shoulder. "Do you feel better?" I asked him. He nodded.

"Daehyun..." he yawned.

"Hm?"

"I'm so close...to finding a way to set you free from your curse..." his voice trailed off.

This caught me by surprise.

"What?" I questioned.

"Youngjae what are you talking about?" But when I looked down at him, his eyes were closed and he was breathing steadily.

 

-Youngjae's POV-

The next morning I woke up to see that I was back in the cabin, lying on the twin-sized bed. When did I get here? I thought to myself. My eyes slightly widened as I remember that I had fallen asleep. "Awe...I missed Kris's story." I pouted, somewhat disappointed.

I looked over to see that Daehyun was still asleep on the other bed. “…I’m so close…” I whispered again, this time mostly to myself.

I quickly left the room and ran into the bathroom to get ready for the day. The sooner I can get started, the sooner I’ll find the way to break Daehyun’s curse.

 

Once I finished changing and brushing my teeth, I immediately ran to the information cabin, not bothering to stop and get breakfast. As soon as I entered the cabin I instantly started my research/work, starting from where I had last left off. I rummaged through the books, flipping the pages and marked down notes on any useful info.

As the day went on books piled up on the table beside me. I was becoming more and more excited with each newly found information that I discovered. I was getting so close. But what was even more intriguing was that while I was finding a cure for Daehyun, I was also getting close to finding something else out. Something important.

Just then I heard the front door slowly creek open. “Youngjae? Are you in here?”

It was Zelo.

“Over here!” I waved. He was carrying a small tray that had a plate of toast, some fruit, and a biscuit. Along with a cup of Orange juice. I raised a suspicious eyebrow at this. “What is that?” I asked him. “This is for you!” he smiled.

“Huh?”

“Daehyun said that you didn’t eat breakfast, so I decided to bring you some.” He explained.

I furrowed my brow, how did he know? “He’s mad by the way.” Zelo whispered, placing the tray across from me. “Figured.” I sighed knowing that he definitely wasn’t going to let this go.

Zelo sat down at the table across from me. “Whatchya doing?” he asked innocently.

“I’m finding a way to break Daehyun’s curse.” I answered.

This time he raised an eyebrow. “Jinja?” he questioned. I nodded. “I’m also doing research to help us fight against Karina.” I said, my eyes never leaving the book. “Really?! Have you found anything?” he asked hopefully. I sadly shook my head. “There’s hardly anything about them. I guess Sphinx really don’t want us to know about them…or even their weaknesses. But, I am close to finding something. I can feel it.” I said.

Zelo sighed in defeat. “But, at least we do know she has to have a weakness.” I told him. “I know, but it could be anything.” He said.

I paused as my eyes slowly widened in pure joy. “I found it!” I gasped.

“Huhh?” Zelo looked at me confused. “I found the way to break Daehyun’s curse!” I announced with joy, quickly writing down the last piece of information. “Really? That’s great!” Zelo cheered.

I folded the piece of paper and slipped it securely in my pocket. “There’s two ways to do it. There’s a spell that I can use but…” I quickly caught myself pausing a little, “…but there’s also a potion that can be made. I found all of the ingredients. I’m going to ask a wizard later today if one of them can make it for me.” I said unable to contain my excitement. “Youngjae you’re a genius!” he smiled. I blushed at the compliment. “Thanks.”

“But, you should eat now.” Zelo said. I nodded. And closed the large book, pushing it aside and pulled the plate closer to me. “Thanks by the way.” I thanked. “No problem.” He smiled happily.

“If we can figure out her weakness, we can definitely win.” I said continuing with the matter at hand.

Zelo nodded, “But I don’t think anybody knows. Not even the people following her know.” He pouted. I thought about it for a bit. “Didn’t Jayde say that Karina was going against her nature?” I said. The younger nodded. “So then…wouldn’t her weakness be the same as Jayde’s?” I questioned. He only shrugged, “But she was way stronger than Jayde though. She wasn’t affected by anything.” He said. “But she is five times older than Jayde.” I remarked. “But what if her weakness is something else?” He said.

It was silent between us as we thought hard. I bit into my biscuit in thought. Just then my eyes widened at a sudden thought. “Maybe Karina found it easy to fight against Jayde since her nature is good and Jayde’s nature was evil. So, it was practically good versus evil.” I shared.

Zelo’s own eyes slightly widened. “…and Jayde was weakened because we stopped working together. But she also must have been focused on saving the world and everyone else so that’s what made her out of her nature. But Karina’s focus during that fight was to crush Jayde…so in a way…she was working with her nature.” I finished in realization. “That’s it!” Zelo jumped in excitement.

“But…how do we defeat her now? Because even if her weakness is the same as Jayde’s the DM is all working together, and I doubt we’ll be able to break them apart.” I said resting my chin in the palm of my hand. “Maybe…” Zelo spoke, thinking to himself. “…well Jayde said in order to win the war we had to work together as one. If our unity was Jayde’s strength. Then maybe our unity is Karina’s weakness.” He said.

I raised an eyebrow waiting for him to continue on.

“Think about it. If what you said is right then if we fight together against her, she’ll be fighting against her nature because we’re fighting for the good everybody.” He went on. I slowly nodded in understanding. “Just think about it. She has been having other people do her dirty work to stay strong.” He added.

I looked at him unable to contain my smile. “Zelo, I think we’re getting somewhere.” I said. He nodded rapidly. “There’s just one more thing. We figured out how to weaken her or at least we have an idea. So now…how do we actually defeat her.” I said.

“We should tell this to the others. Kris and Lee were the closest to Jayde and probably know a little more about Sphinxes. So maybe they can help.” Zelo suggested. I nodded in agreement. “Let’s tell them now. The sooner the better.” I said standing up. Zelo nodded and helped me put away the books.

Neither of us could stop smiling nor contain our excitement. We’re way closer than before in finding a way to defeat Karina, and that’s all we need to know in order to win this war. We’ll be able to end this war with one fight, we’ll be able to avenge Jayde with just one fight…we’ll be able to end everyone’s suffering with just one fight.

I picked up the last book, about to put it away when a small notebook fell out of it.

I scrunched a brow, looking down at the red worn out notepad. Zelo paused his movements looking at the door curiously. “Did you hear that?” he questioned, slowly making his way over to the door.

I didn’t respond, my attention engrossed on the notebook. I bent down and picked it up, placing the other book back down. “I don’t remember seeing this.” I said to myself, observing the small notebook in my hand. I carefully opened it.

‘Youngjae, I think this will be useful for you.’ The back of the first cover read.

My eyes grew wide. Who?

“Youngjae…I think something is going on outside. I think we should…” Zelo spoke sounding concerned.

I looked at the front page. The first sentence read, ‘It took me a while, but I killed my first Sphinx.’

I paused.

It was a journal entry. But who knew that we’d need this? And who found this?

“Zelo I found-,” but I was cut off by someone busting through the wall behind me.

“Youngjae!” Zelo yelled.

I squeaked, jumping backwards, trying to avoid the flying debris. I looked to see a large full grown werewolf growling at me.

What the heck?

“Youngjae!” Zelo called out again running to me, but his path was cut off by someone bursting through the roof, landing only a few feet in front of him. It was a vampire.

Zelo shoved a table at the vampire only to have the creature jump on top of it. “Going to have to try harder than that.” The vampire smirked. Zelo narrowed his eyes at him.

I turned my attention back to the werewolf that was now stalking towards me. I slowly backed up. What am I supposed to do? I still can’t use my magic yet. But I’m not going to just run away.

I looked at the wolf and noticed that it had the dark blue DM symbol on its side. “The DM?” I thought aloud. The beast growled again and charged at me about to pounce, but I quickly ducked causing it to crash into a clutter of tables and chairs.

I quickly ran behind a line of bookshelves. “Zelo! Watch out!” I called. Without any other warning I pushed hard against the bookshelf closet to me and caused a domino effect of each shelf knocking down the other until all of the shelves toppled on top of the vampire.

I immediately ran back to Zelo’s side. “Do you think that…” Zelo didn’t dare to finish. “I don’t know but let’s get out of here.” I said about to run out the front door when suddenly the werewolf jumped at us, separating us again.

The vicious wolf turned to me stalking my way. It was angry.

Without a single warning the creature rammed me right into the wall, forcing me to drop the notebook.

“Youngjae no!” Zelo ran over to us, but the wolf hit Zelo back with its tail, sliding him all the way to the other side of the cabin.

I groaned in pain, sliding to the ground. “The notebook…” I coughed, trying to crawl over to it, only to have the werewolf growl at me again. I narrowed my eyes back at the intruder. There was no way I was going to get through this without using my magic.

The wolf jumped to pounce.

I took a deep breath and raised my hand.

“Youngjae no!! Don’t use your magic!” Zelo nearly screamed.

I froze. What did he just say?

The large werewolf froze in mid-air. Zelo used his powers and threw the creature to the other side, but he was only able to move the beast a few feet away before he fell onto his knees. His nose was bleeding.

“Zelo.” I forced myself to stand up and quickly ran over to him. The werewolf must’ve been too heavy for him. “Zelo, why did you do that?” I ripped a piece of my shirt off and placed it carefully under his nostril to stop the bleeding. “Tilt your head back a little.” I instructed. He obeyed. “I had to stop you from using your magic.” He said. “Wh-…let’s get out of here first.” I sighed. He nodded standing back up.

I looked back at the notebook. “You go ahead. I have to get that book.” I told him.

The werewolf spun around and ran straight to us, however the beast didn’t make it far when it suddenly fell into a black hole and disappeared into the earth.

A few seconds later Kai appeared from the ground. “Looks like I saved you again.” The shadow seeker winked at me. But before any of us could say anything, the vampire from earlier finally busted through the pile of bookshelves. The creature hissed viciously.

“You guys go. I’’ deal with this punk.” Kai said cracking his knuckles. “Wait I need to-,” “Forget the book Youngjae. Let’s go!” Zelo cut me off, dragging me out the door. “That notebook has the way to defeat a Sphinx.” I said with much urgency, wanting to go back in. “It’s okay. We’ll figure something out on our own. It’s not worth risking your life.” Zelo said, not daring to release his tight grip around my wrist.

“Besides, we almost have it figured out anyway.” He smiled. I gave him a small smile back and nodded. He was right. But I couldn’t help but wonder who found that book, and who knew that we needed it? And who knew that I’d be the one to find it.

I looked around the area to see that almost everyone was fighting a member of the Dark Magic.

At that moment Himchan and Jongup came riding up to us on horse, wearing their cloaks. “What’s going on?” I asked. Jongup just shrugged. “We’re being attacked, and lee said that we’ll be leaving early.” Himchan said keeping the story short. I only nodded. He then helped me up onto his horse and Zelo climbed onto Jongup’s.

“What happened to you guys?” Jongup questioned, seeing Zelo’s bleeding nose and the small scratches on the back of my arms. “We were attacked.” Zelo said as if it were obvious. “Whelp, Father Yongguk and Mother Daehyun are not gonna like this.” Jongup stated, receiving an eye roll from the younger.

The four of us road through the fight heading toward the back of the camp, Himchan leading the way. We made it to the very back of the camp all the way to the stream in no time. Everyone was already there, with their cloaks on and horses saddled. Suho and Tao were also there, keeping watch.

The 4 of us hopped off the horses to help with the last bit of preparation. “Guk! Dae! Your children have arrived~!” Jongup called.

Daehyun quickly ran up to me, ignoring Jongup’s announcement. “Are you okay?” He asked with much concern. “Yeah.” I said, hiding my arms behind my back. “Good.” He said. But then his expression immediately changed. “How come you didn’t eat breakfast?” he asked sounding more mad than anything else. I frowned at this. How can he ask that at a time like this? “Why did you tell Zelo about my condition?” I shot back. He paused, his mouth agape. I sighed and walked passed him.

“Here. You guys might want to wear these. It may get pretty chilly.” Kris said, handing Zelo and I cloaks. “How come we’re leaving early?” Zelo asked. “Is it because of the attack?”

Kris nodded. “Our guess is that they were sent to prevent us from leaving and going to Moonlight Bay.” The shadow seeker explained. We both nodded in understanding. Karina knew. “And probably because of that notebook.” I muttered to myself. “Huh?” Kris said, not understanding. “Youngjae found a notebook that talked about defeating a Sphinx.” Zelo explained. Kris’s eyes lit up at the news. “Really? Where is it?” he asked me excitedly.

I looked down shamefully. “We…couldn’t grab it…” Zelo answered instead. Kris nodded in understanding.

I bit my bottom lip. I should’ve just used my powers.

Kris noticed the look on my face and rested his hand on my shoulder. “It’s not worth risking your life over.” He told me. I looked at him. “It’s worse if we lose both you and the book.” He smiled at me.

“But we did figure something out!” Zelo perked. Kris removed his hand from my shoulder. “We, figured it out ourselves! Well, Jae figured out most of it. And we were going to tell you and Lee about it, you might be able to fill in the missing pieces.” Zelo explained. “Us? Really?” Kris questioned somewhat surprised. The two of us nodded. “Okay, we’ll talk about it when we get to the Kingdom. Right now we need to get going.” He said. We nodded again and Kris went back to preparing.

“Are you okay?” Zelo asked me as I pulled the cloak over my head.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I told him.

“Are you sure? It looked painful when you hit the wall.” He said. “I am a little sore.” I admitted. “But I’m fine.” I assured him. He nodded. “I’m sorry.” He suddenly apologized.

I looked at him. “Why are you apologizing?”

“For what I said back there.” He said rubbing the back of his neck. I only looked at him confused.

“About your magic. Daehyun told me not to tell you that I knew. He said that you didn’t want anyone to know.” he said.

I sighed. “Don’t be sorry. You didn’t do anything wrong.” I told him. He nodded again, “But Youngjae, please don’t be mad at Daehyun. He just really wants to make sure that you’re okay. I would have done the same.” He said.

I sighed and only nodded, he was right…I guess. Plus there really wasn’t any time to stay mad at Daehyun.

“Alright guys. Let’s go. There’s not enough horses for everyone, so everyone is just going to have to share.” Lee announced, climbing onto his horse. “It’s about a day’s trip to get there. So the sooner the better.”

“You guys sure you can handle this on your own?” Kris asked Suho and Tao.

“Yeah, we got this.” Tao said.

“What? Do you not trust my leadership skills?” Suho challenged. Kris just laughed.

“Just worry about yourself and make sure you take Karina down. I don’t want to see your face again until she’s gone and done with.” Suho said, folding his arms.

“Wow, thanks for your encouraging words.” Kris remarked sarcastically only earning a smile from the other.

We then all climbed onto the horses, following Lee’s lead.

Min climbed on the horse with Lee, Tae climbed on with Kris, and the rest of us climbed on with our respective partners.

“Are you mad?” Daehyun asked me as he climbed onto the horse, sitting in front of me.

“I am disappointed, but, I understand why you did it.” I told him honestly, wrapping my arms around his torso, securing myself. He only smiled at this and nodded.

“Bye~!” Tae waved to the 2 shadow seekers who stayed behind. “See you later.” Kris told them.

“Good Luck.” Suho waved, and with that the 10 of us were off, with Lee leading the way, knowing exactly where to go. I couldn’t help but hold on tightly onto Daehyun, afraid to fall. But he didn’t seem to mind.