Infinite Darkness

Chapter Two

Seungcheol and Dokyum panted heavily. They sat on the ground trying to catch their breath after an intense fight. Joshua strode up to them, crouching down and congratulating them on their battle. Seungcheol turned his head towards Joshua and frowned.

"That Behemon was awfully strong, are you sure it was a B-ranked behemon?" Seungcheol grumbled, "Do you even know you rankings anymore?"

"Of course I do!" Joshua huffed, crossing his arms with a sigh. It ranges from E-A, except the only outlier is that S-ranks are the strongest."

"Why wouldn't Joshua know?" Dokyum chuckled

Seungcheol reached out ruffled his brother's hair affectionately which caused Dokyum to whine in displeasure as his hair was messed up. Dokyum went off to go pocket a stone the Behemon dropped as Seungcheol stretched his back

"Let's go visit Jeonghan," Seungcheol said

The trio walked over to Jeonghan's store. To a regular human, it would look like an antique shop, but to those involved in the Spirit World, it was just a cover. This was a store were Behemon cores were traded for money, no one knows what happens with the core's, but it is assumed that weapons are made out of it.

S.coups walked up to the door which had a closed sign on it, he knocked on the door and waited for someone to open it. The door opened, and a Woozi stood on the other side, he had a broad grin, but when he saw the trio he began to frown

"Oh, it's only you" Woozi scowled as he eyed them disdainfully. When he made eye contact with Dokyum, his nostrils flared, and his hands clenched into fists. Dokyum's eyes widened, and he gulped, trails of sweat ran down his back, and he quickly averted his eyes. "You piece of !" Woozi bellowed, and he landed a punch square on Dokyum's stomach. He keeled over and fell onto the floor and rolled into a ball, clutching his stomach. 

Seungcheol gasped loudly, and his eyes grew in shock. He kneeled over his brother, consoling him for a few seconds before looking over to Woozi. "What was that for?"

"That bastard pushed me down the stairs today" Woozi spat, his eyes burned like fires and stabbed daggers into Dokyum "I almost broke my neck!"

Seungcheol sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose while closing his eyes. Dokyum rolled over again to face his brother. Seungcheol opened one of his eyes to see Dokyum writhing in pain with pure fear on his face. Seungcheol stood up suddenly, and Dokyum held out his arm to his brother and was ignored. Seungcheol rolled his eyes as he stood up "You're a dumb idiot you know, only you'd piss off Woozi like this"

Dokyum's arm flopped to his side and slowly crawled to his feet. "You're the worst brother ever."

Seungcheol shrugged flippantly and crossed his arms "I wasn't the one who pissed him off. You know what he's like, you should be more careful!"

Someone cleared their throat, and everyone turned around, startled. A tall, skinny man stood at the bottom of a staircase. He had feminine facial features and sandy blond hair. He crooked his head with a sweet smile and strode over to them "How may I help you gentleman today?"

"Hello, Jeonghan!" Seungcheol greeted, his rummaged into his pockets and pulled out the dark brown stone flecked with red and presented it to Jeonghan "We brought you this Behemon core."

Jeonghan leaned over and peered at the stone. He observed it for a couple of second before motioning them to follow him. Jeonghan took them into the back room and sat down at the table. The other three sat opposite of Jeonghan. Jeonghan drew a white symbol on the table, and it began to glow. S.coups placed the Behemon core on the marking, and it started to gleam. Jeonghan inspected it and smiled, he picked the Behemon core up, it stopped glowing, and the symbol on the table disappeared

"This is an impressive Behemon core!" Jeonghan marvelled as he picked up the stone, turning it from side to side and inspecting it ever so closely 

"How much is it?" Seungcheol asked 

Jeonghan hummed thoughtfully and put the stone back on the table "I wouldn't pay less than 150,000."

Dokyum fell backwards out of shock and almost kicked the table over, Joshua's jaw dropped, even Seungcheol looked surprised. Jeonghan picked the Behemon core up off the table and frowned at Dokyum who almost knocked it to the floor. Dokyum began to sputter in shock, and he pointed to the Behemon core with trembling hands

"You must be joking!" Dokyum yelled "That's a lot of money! Are we being pranked? You're pranking us right?"

Jeonghan laughed at their surprised faced "What? This is a high-quality Behemon core, did you want me to rip you off?" 

"No way! Where are the camera's?" Dokyum leapt to his feet and searched the room as Joshua and Jeonghan sat frozen on the floor "When did you start filming a prank show? Is this the first episode or something?"

Woozi walked into the room and laughed at their faces. He went to inspect the Behemon core, and his eyes lit up "Hey Jeonghan, this is that super rare Behemon isn't it!" Woozi asked excitedly

Jeonghan nodded "Yeah, thank Seungcheol and Dokyum for taking it out."

"You're awesome!" Woozi complimented "this Behemon was probably really hard to kill because of its ability to regenerate and its use of toxic acid."

Seungcheol smiled and said "thanks!"

"Hey, I didn't know that Woozi was a part of the T.V show!" Dokyum exclaimed, "You're a good actor!"

Woozi rolled his eyes What on Earth are you on about?"

"Come on guys stop. I know you're pranking. Enough games!" Dokyum laughed

Jeonghan and Woozi looked at each other. Woozi looked confused, and Jeonghan just shook his head

"Is he alright in the head?" Woozi asked

"I think he's a bit special" Jeonghan replied solemnly

"Hey! I can hear you!" Dokyum whined

"Yeah, that's the point" Woozi snickered

"But it can't be worth that much right?" Dokyum frowned

Woozi glared at Dokyum and Jeonghan placed his palms on the table, and the table began to glow. When it stopped gleaming, a stack of money was lying in the middle. Jeonghan picked it up and handed it to Seungcheol "here, for the Behemon core."

Dokyum looked as if he was about to faint on the spot and Joshua hurried over to stop him from falling. Seungcheol took the money as Jeonghan slipped the Behemon core into this pocket "thanks, I'll see you next time I get a Behemon core!" Seungcheol smiled

"Can't wait" Jeonghan laughed

"Jeonghan, why don't you and Woozi ever go Behemon hunting?" Joshua asked curiously "You both are powerful enough to take down Behemon's, why do you rely on Spirit Slayers?"

Jeonghan smiled and chuckled "You should understand Joshua. After all, you don't see Seungcheol and Dokyum killing monkeys, gorillas and apes. Why would Woozi, myself, or even you do it?"

Seungcheol stood up and brushed off his pants. Jeonghan averted his attention back to Seungcheol and smiled "Thank you for your services. Please come again!"

Dokyum staggered to his feet, still in shock and stumbled around following Seungcheol who didn't even look back once. Joshua turned to leave, but Jeonghan raised his hand to stop him, then turned to his younger brother and said "Woozi, can you leave us alone for a second?"

Woozi looked puzzled but obeyed Jeonghan regardlessly and wordlessly left and closed the door behind him. Joshua looked at Jeonghan in confusion, Jeonghan just motioned for Joshua to sit down and Joshua complied. Jeonghan erased the marking off the table and drew another one. Joshua awkwardly cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck "Was there anything you needed from me."

"Have you ever gotten your future read before?" Jeonghan asked as he continued to draw a long, elaborate marking, filled with elegant swirls and clean lines.

"I know you've given Seungcheol his fair share of premonitions, but I prefer to not meddle with that type of stuff" Joshua answered honestly

Jeonghan hummed and nodded understandingly, drawing the last few onto the table and then finally looking up at Joshua. "Would you like to get your future read?"

Joshua blinked slowly and coughed awkwardly. Jeonghan looked at him waiting for an answer, and Joshua cleared his throat "I'd prefer not-"

"Joshua, I strongly recommend you get your future read," Jeonghan said sternly

"Why, do you sense something bad?" Joshua asked worriedly 

Jeonghan nodded slowly, Joshua sighed and agreed to get his future read. Jeonghan instructed Joshua to place his palms in the near the middle of the table, and then he began to chant words in a language he'd never heard before. Jeonghan with his eyes closed began to move his fingers across the table, and the markings glowed a light green. Jeonghan pulled out a paper talisman and stuck it in the middle of the table. The markings inscribed on the table and the markings on the talisman lined up and began to glow. Jeonghan pulled out four more and placed them on every corner of the table, their markings lined up and shined. Jeonghan opened his eyes and pulled out one last paper talisman and placed it on Joshua's chest, the talisman glowed, and Joshua felt his eyes beginning to close. Jeonghan's voice started to echo in his ears.

Joshua's eyes flew open, and he fell back his breath was erratic, and his heart was thumping furiously in his chest. He ripped the talisman off his chest, and the markings on the table and talisman stopped glowing. Jeonghan opened his eyes slowly, and his lips curled into a frown.

"It's worse than I thought" Jeonghan breathed, his eyebrows furrowed, he looked troubled

"What do you mean?" Joshua asked, "What's happening."

Jeonghan merely shrugged "This has never happened to me before, I honestly can't tell you what it means or what to do… Mark my words though Joshua, tread carefully from here on out. Something bad is going to happen to you soon."