The trio headed for the stables after their tour of the castle. So far, everything Jungkook had seen seemed so far out of his reach. He would need thousands of centuries to accumulate the amount of wealth and prestige Hoseok had in this lifetime.

They approached a storeroom the size of twelve cottages put together. Easily enough space to keep tens of people sheltered from the elements. Jungkook stepped inside to find one half of the space occupied by twenty-two stalls. Bright lights eradicated the places where shadows would have taken up quarters given any other windowed abode. The second half of the storeroom was filled with white sand that gleamed under the brilliant lights.

"What is the meaning of this?" Taehyung asked. He shielded his eyes as he tried to look up at the ceiling. "Why is it so bright in here?"

Hoseok smiled. "Licoturés. The room is illuminated thanks to stones that absorb light from the wavelengths reflected off of bodies of water." Hoseok led them over to a part of the storeroom where five large pools of water stood one against the other in a perfect row. He peered inside. "As you can see, there's enough water for the light coming in from the windows to reflect off of. This place will never run out of light so long as there is a sun."

"A gift from Mother Nature, herself, if I may say so," Taehyung said.

Hoseok stood silent. He bent his arm before his stomach and smiled. "You wouldn't be wrong. Mother Nature has given us lots of things for which to be grateful." Hoseok smiled at Taehyung before venturing towards the horses that had been let out of their stalls.

"These three are in the process of being trained. Two will be conditioned in defense while the third will replace the one we lost to sickness four weeks prior. She will be in charge of carrying disabled guests."

"You didn't mention the loss to me," Taehyung interjected. His energy dissipated as he took a step back to look at Hoseok front and center.

"I didn't want to worry you."

"Well-"

"I sincerely apologize if that was the case. I had no ill intentions."

Jungkook bit his tongue. How much longer would they talk to each other as if he weren't in existence? Is this what it feels like knowing you have lost the war? Being forced to watch the enemy advance without reprieve from the pain of knowing you had done everything in your power to fight back and could now do nothing.

Jungkook's eyes scoured the storeroom. They landed on Hoseok's horse. He crept forward.

"You can touch her," Hoseok said. In a matter of seconds, he was at Jungkook's side. Jungkook shriveled up inside as Hoseok pulled his shirt sleeves up to his elbows. Sinewy forearms greeted his vision. "She much prefers the company of another female but she won't bite back a kind hand."

Hoseok ran his hand over the thick shell wrapped around her neck. "This is Hevi. She's one of the few remaining descendants of the Lagerous."

Jungkook frowned.

"Do you know who they once were?"

Jungkook shook his head. He had not grown up on fairy tales and children's bedtime stories. His childhood had been littered with jagged bottleneck truths and missing persons of interest.

There once lived a farmer who liked to fashion necklaces from the broken rocks and debris off of the coast of an island known as Güeill. During this era, there lived a number of large, weathered turtles that liked to feed off of the small island's vast expanse of tuna. Unlike the townsfolk who feared the ocean and its many unknowns, the farmer became increasingly acquainted with the Lagerous after each visit to the island. He learned to love them; for, at times, the smaller of the Lagerous would approach his boat with components for future necklaces thrown into a basket.

You see, the Lagerous were named after the townsfolk's fear and anxiety. They presumed the Lagerous to be dangerous. Their large size added on to their apprehension. But, dangerous was a misconception and one that was detrimental in altering that animal's time in history.

No amount of explaining on part of the farmer could change the townsfolk's collective thinking for he, too, was an outcast. His child had drowned off of Güeill's coast nearly a decade prior to this story's happenings. And as for his wife, well, she went and married another man in some city not too far from the town. After their daughter's death, she became increasingly distraught; quoting her "less-than-adequate fishing lifestyle" as the fraying point to the loss of their girl. She was gone one night with no more than a printed handkerchief left in place o