--~~--

(15)

Jongin stumbled through the thick vegetation, mumbling under his breath as he righted himself and drew further and further from his camp group.  The excited voices of Chanyeol and Baekhyun  and the others faded into the distance, replaced instead by the constant hum of birdsong, the soft whisper of leaves in the breeze.

Jongin grinned and hefted his backpack higher onto his shoulders. 

It was the beginning of summer, and the air was thick with a heavy humidity that had sweat trickling down his spine in a steady stream.

He was hot, and gross, and sweaty, but he was far from miserable.  He’d been waiting all year to get to camp so he could come out here, and he wasn’t about to turn around.  He wiped his brow and picked up his pace, moving quickly now.  He could cool off when he reached his destination.  

Jongin hummed under his breath, quietly happy with the knowledge that his camp counselor wouldn't even miss him.  Jongin had been going to this summer camp long enough to know that the college-aged staff didn't really give a flying flip what the high schoolers chose to do throughout the course of the day.  They had "planned activities", of course, like right now the entire  camp was supposed to be on a tour of the great 10 mile ravine that stretched across the land...  but many boys tended to wander away throughout the day.

So long as they were back to camp by curfew, the counselors didn't say a word.  

Jongin's mother would be appalled if she knew.  Born and raised in the city, the idea of her son in summer camp (in the forest!) had worried her, but Jongin had insisted.  Whined and cried and begged.  Even at the young age of 12, something about the forest outside of the city had fascinated him.  It was beautiful, alive in a way that the concrete buildings of the city were not.  The forest was ripe with the possibility of adventure.  Of escape.  

His first camp session had been during the summer he was 12 years old, and he had been coming back to the camp every summer since.

Jongin paused, the familiar sound of roaring water reaching his ears. 

The waterfall.  He was close.

He grinned and followed the noise, eventually breaking through the heavy underbrush and stumbling into a clearing.

Jongin blinked and exhaled, glad to see that the space looked exactly as he remembered.  The crystal clear waterfall fell loudly into the deep pool at its base, the water eventually flowing into a good sized river that traveled off down into the base of the ravine. 

The clearing that surrounded the fall was green with soft moss and healthy grass, and though Jongin was sure that nobody frequented this place, everything looked well tended in a natural sort of way. 

Jongin loved entire atmosphere of the clearing, but his favorite feature was the groups of red flowers that were interspersed throughout the grasses.  He slung his backpack off and crouched down next to a cluster of the blooming red flowers.  

Amaryllis, Jongin recalled, as he traced the smooth softness of a petal.  He'd taken a picture of the flower last summer and looked it up as soon as he'd gotten back home and had enough service on his phone.  

Jongin stood and put his hands on his hips, staring around the clearing in satisfaction.  Another trickle of sweat crept down his spine, reminding him of how disgustingly hot he was, and he sprang toward the waterfall, shedding his shirt and pants as he went.  

He leapt beneath the fall, completely , and the cold water closed over his head in a blessed wave of relief.  Jongin sank to the bottom of the natural pool, enjoying the cold reprieve for a moment before bracing his feet on the sandy bottom and propelling back upwards.

He broke the surface with a gasp, flinging his wet bangs from his face. Jongin flipped onto his back and just floated, staring up at the sky, feeling light with happiness. School was out and he was free of assignments and the rush of city life. Out here he could relax, explore the wildness of the forest…

Jongin folded himself back under the water and swam toward the shore. He would love nothing more than to stay right here until sunset, but today he had other plans; he wanted to go into the forest.  He'd only managed to find this place by following the edge of the ravine, but the ravine stopped just outside of this clearing, and this summer, Jongin wanted to go deeper into the forest.

He’d grown up hearing stories about the forest in the camp.  Tales of kids that had ventured into the forest and just disappeared.  Whisperings of strange sounds that could be heard at night, and sightings of weird animals.  But the forest had never seemed scary to Jongin, just sort of intimidating.  Old. 

At the age of 15, he finally felt brave enough to venture in.

He hefted himself from the pool, careful not to scrape his body, and padded toward his fallen clothes, allowing the early summer breeze to dry the water droplets from his skin.  

Jongin had settled his pants in place and was pulling his shirt up over his head when he felt all the hair on his body stand at attention.  He paused for a second, shirt still over his face, a shiver rolling down his spine.

Someone was watching him.

Jongin yanked his shirt down.  He couldn't see anyone, couldn't hear anyone over the roar of the waterfall either...

He held very still for a moment, just waiting for the feeing to go away, but it still lingered, the weird sensation that he wasn’t alone.  

“Hello?”  He called out. 

The trees swayed as a breeze rippled through the clearing, but nobody appeared.

Jongin shook his head and chided himself before hefting his backpack over his shoulders.  It was probably just a curious animal.

He started toward the edge of the forest, steps quieted by the soft grass, hair still dripping wet.  It was just past noon and he basically had all day to wander.

Jongin walked for several miles, eyes peeled for any interesting animals or plants.  He pulled his phone out, taking pictures here or there. He traversed over small streams and tiny rock piles, winding through the trees on what appeared to be a small deer path. 

He walked on, but he was never able to shake that feeling of being watched.  Often times he'd peek over his shoulder or surreptitiously squat down under the pretense of examining a flower just so he could glance around...

But he never saw anyone, or anything for that matter.  

After several hours, Jongin finally decided to stop for lunch, his resting place of choice being atop a large moss-covered boulder.  He sat down, tired, but still exhilarated nonetheless.  He chewed on his sandwich thoughtfully, mentally cataloguing how long it would probably take him to get back. 

He swallowed the last of his meal and took a swig of water before easing onto his back.  Jongin stared up at the canopy of trees, hypnotized by the way the leaves swayed in the breeze.  Shadows danced along his face and sunlight dappled the clearing.  He relaxed, eyes roving along the thick branches—   

Jongin sat up with a surprised yelp, scrambling to turn around and face the person who was staring down at him.  

Jongin placed a hand on his chest, trying to calm the frantic beat of his heart as his initial shock settled into a prickle of unease.  That same prickle of unease he’d been feeling all day.

The person on the tree branch didn’t react at all, didn’t flinch, didn’t move.  Dark eyes stared down at Jongin unblinkingly, the guy’s expression totally unreadable.  

The person was definitely a guy, Jongin decided, as he took in the sturdy build, broad shoulders, and solid chest.  The man looked a bit older than Jongin, maybe in his mid to late 20s.  His hair was a pitch black, shaggy enough to fall into his eyes.  And his eyes...they were wide, curving prettily around a pair of dark, dark irises.  

The guy looked perfectly comfortable in the trees, one leg dangling from the branch he sat on, the other folded up so that his elbow could rest upon it.  The mossy green color of his loose shirt almost made him blend in to the leaves around him.  

But Jongin could see him.  Could feel the way the guy’s stare was burning into his skin, causing all the hair on his body to stick straight up.  

Jongin his lips and finally found his voice.  "Um...h-hello,"  he said uncomfortably.

The male continued to look at him in utter silence, didn't even act as though Jongin had spoken.  

Jongin tried again.  "I'm sorry for bothering you.  I'm just stopping for a bit," he gestured toward his things, his sandwich wrapper and water bottle still sitting next to him on the boulder.

The man's brows drew together, and his stare sharpened.  A reaction.  Probably a negative one.

"Orrrr…I can leave right now," Jongin mumbled under his breath, beginning to gather his things as quickly as he could.

This is weird.

He stood to leave, jumping down from the large rock he’d been sitting on.  But when he glanced back up to the trees, the man was gone. 

Jongin's eyes widened, and he spun in a circle, checking to see if maybe the man had just moved to a different location.

But for the first time since he'd left the waterfall, Jongin didn't feel as though he were being watched, and he knew that he was well and truly alone in the tiny clearing.

He glanced around one more time, still feeling uneasy, and then he headed back the way he had come, deciding that maybe he had imagined the entire thing.  

This forest was old, after all.  And according to the tales and legends, it wasn’t unusual for strange things to happen.    

--~~--

Kyungsoo retreated to a higher branch, his heart pounding in surprise.  A vine dropped down, wrapping around his left forearm, and pulling him even higher.  He settled into his makeshift tree house and paced around a bit, mind working quickly. 

That Human had seen him. 

That Human boy had looked straight up at him, stared into his eyes, and seen him.

He’d even spoken to him.  

It’d been centuries since a human being had been able to see him.  He didn’t think it possible anymore.

His heart was still pounding in shock.  Kyungsoo stopped moving, put a hand over his chest, and took a deep breath to calm himself.  

He’d been too careless.  He was so used to them not being able to see him that he’d just dropped straight down onto a lower lower branch in order to get a better look at the kid.  He’d been wondering how to scare him off when the boy had looked straight at him and spoken.  

And for a split second, Kyungsoo could have sworn it had been Kai staring up at him.  The physical similarities between the two were uncanny.  His breath had stopped, and his heart had kicked into overdrive.  It was only when the Human had actually spoken to him, voice too high, expression too wary, that Kyungsoo had shaken out of his stupor and gotten out of there.

But still.

The boy had seen him.

He was absolutely sure of it.

The Earth Spirit growled and ran a hand through his hair.  Nothing good ever came from Humans seeing Spirits.  Hopefully the kid decided to stay away. 

—~~—

Despite his discomfort that first day, Jongin continued to return to the forest to explore.  Over the past two weeks, he'd developed a routine.  He would start at the grove with the waterfall, and then head out into the forest, a different path every time.  

And everyday, at some point or another, Jongin would feel all the hair on his body stand, a shiver travel down his spine, and he had the wild thought that maybe he hadn’t imagined that whole entire interaction from the first day.  Maybe there was actually some strange guy following him around the forest, watching his every move.

Strange as it was, Jongin begin to grow used to the sensation. 

One day, he even called into the trees, a simple "I know you're watching."

But he never received a response. 

He wondered if maybe the guy had grown up in the woods, raised by wild animals, unable to speak any human language.  Jongin came up with all kinds of weird explanations in his mind, and in the end he decided that no matter what the guy's situation, he was probably hungry.

Jongin started to leave food at the boulder. 

An apple one day.

A sandwich the next.

Even if the guy couldn't understand Jongin's language, surely he would understand the gesture he was making.  Whether it was the strange guy, or a wild animal, something was eating the food because it was never there the next day when Jongin returned.  

At some point, during the beginning of the third week, Jongin decided that he wanted to see the guy again, coax him out of hiding.  He started to talk out loud, about random things, about himself, knowing the guy was listening, and even if they didn't speak the same language, maybe it would be enough to make the other boy curious. 

But the guy from the trees never revealed himself.  

Every night Jongin would go back to camp, his morale slightly down, but his determination only growing stronger. 

But the days went on, and suddenly it was time for Jongin to return home, the summer winding to a lazy close. 

He trudged back into the forest on his last day of camp, feeling a strong sense of sorrow.  He hadn't seen the boy since that first day, but he'd always felt his presence as soon as he entered to forest.  Even now. 

Jongin made it to the boulder and climbed up, a strange feeling of loss weighing on him already.  

"Today's my last day," he said, speaking upward.  "Tomorrow I'll go back home.  Back to the city."

Jongin sighed heavily.  He really didn't want to go.  He'd much rather spend his days in the shade of the forest trees rather than the tall cement buildings of his hometown.  

"I'll miss it here," Jongin murmured, running his fingers over the soft moss that covered the stone.  "And I'll miss you too," he added, speaking louder, glancing upward again.  "Thanks for listening to me babble all summer."

There was no response, of course, but Jongin felt satisfied all the same.  Somehow he knew the guy understood him, and somehow he knew the guy would still be here next year.  

Jongin had all of next summer to try and lure him out again.

"I'll be back."

--~~--

Kyungsoo watched in silence as the Human male finally stood up and began the trek back to his silly Human camp.

All summer the boy had been talking incessantly.  Striding into Kyungsoo's territory and leaving tiny morsels of food on Kyungsoo's boulder.   

Kyungsoo stood from his perch in his third favorite tree and begin to follow Jongin through the forest.  He watched with narrowed eyes as the Human boy paused to lean down and touch the petals of a dying amaryllis.  Every year, the red flowers began to sprout in the cold winter months, blooming continuosly all the way until the end of the warm summer, before wilting away and disappearing until next flowering season.

And every year Kyungsoo had to watch them grow, pushing through the earth, lifting up to the sunlight and drinking in the rainfall.  Alive. Reborn. 

….Unlike Kai.

It had been nearly 800 years, and still the memory felt like a fresh wound to Kyungsoo.  The red flowers brought visions of the Red Lady, her lips quirked in a smile as she snapped Kai’s soul in half.  Kyungsoo knew that she had died long ago, her Human lifespan no longer than any other, but still, Kyungsoo's rage toward her and Humans alike had not diminished.  Over the years as his land had disappeared, piece after piece, he'd only grown to hate them more.  

Humans only took, took, took and never, ever gave back.

Nearly all of his territory had been swallowed up, only this small patch remaining.  All of Kyungsoo's friends had vanished, save for a brave handful.  Joonmyun had recently gone to the coast to help a fellow Water Spirit, Minseok, attempt to control the amount of sludge and pollution that filtered into the sea water.  

Luhan, a Spirit of the Air, had visited Kyungsoo about 200 years ago, his countenance grim.  Apparently the Humans had begun creating "machines", things that spouted great amounts of impurities into the air.  Luhan had looked tired, defeated.  

"It's only going to get worse," the Air Spirit had predicted.  "These machines are going to be everywhere, and there's nothing we can do about it.  The Humans can't see us, can't hear us. We can't even warn them that the Earth is dying…”

"They wouldn't listen anyway," Kyungsoo had responded darkly, remembering how Kai's attempt at such peaceful methods had ended.  "Let them kill themselves.  It's what they deserve."

Luhan had nodded heavily.  "We've become just as bad as them, thinking such hateful thoughts..."

It was true, Kyungsoo knew.  But he really couldn't find it in himself to care.  

That emotion had disappeared along with Kai.

As the years passed, it happened just as Luhan had guessed, the state of the Earth becoming worse and worse.  Kyungsoo could tell that the sun shined hotter every year, the summers lasting longer, the seasons changing either slowly or suddenly and all at once.  It wasn't natural. 

And the Wilds no longer responded to Kyungsoo as they used to.  His magic was just as unpredictable as the seasons, strong one day and weak the next.

If this was what the world was turning into, well then he wanted no part of it.  He was almost glad that Kai didn’t have to see the Wilds deteriorate as much as they had in the past few centuries.  Kyungsoo's heart would have broken ten thousand times over for the state of the Earth if it hadn't already been shattered to oblivion when Kai disappeared.  

The Earth Spirit felt Kai's absence like a thorn in his side, a thorn he could never extract. It hurt, pulsed in constant pain.  He would have given into the hateful pull of darkness, if not for the Bind that held him in place, kept him from burning himself out like so many Spirits before him.  

No.  Kyungsoo's disdain for Humans had not lessened any over the years.

And he certainly felt no connection to this particular Human that continued to wander into his forest.

Really, the only thing that held Kyungsoo back from running the kid off was the fact that the Human bore such a striking physical resemblance to Kai. 

Kyungsoo watched Jongin walk, studied his taut muscles, the tanned skin, the high forehead.  Where Kai had been all angles, this Human still held a bit of softness around his face that betrayed his youth.  He wasn’t quite as tall as Kai either.  At least, not yet.  The Human was probably still growing.

Kyungsoo followed after the boy, suddenly unable to resist the lure of his memories.  For a moment, Kyungsoo’s vision swam and Jongin was Kai, and Kyungsoo was free, and all was right with the world. 

But then he felt that tell-tale tightening around his neck, the Bind kicking in, a noose restricting his movements, and the vision shattered.  

Nothing was right. 

Nothing at all.  

Jongin continued onward without the Earth Spirit, just like every other being had, and Kyungsoo melted back into the forest, alone.

The trees seemed very silent, almost as if the woods were mourning the loss of such a pure soul, such an innocent human.  Whether Kyungsoo wanted to admit it or not, Jongin had fed the forest with a positive energy that it hadn’t received in a very long time.  Everything had seemed a little brighter, a little more natural.  

Kyungsoo had felt the good energy trickle into his system as well, and it was a pleasant shock, a feeling of calm and peace that he’d refused to acknowledge was due to Jongin’s constant presence.

But everything was quiet now.

Almost too quiet.

Kyungsoo had more or less been alone for 800 years, unnoticeable to anyone but his fellow Spirits, but as he sat on a sturdy tree branch, staring into the distance where Jongin had disappeared, he felt a wave of true isolation. 

The Earth Spirit snorted at himself.  

Don’t be stupid.    

Jongin was just another filthy Human.  The boy might seem to be pure, and innocent, and good now, but Kyungsoo was willing to bet all of that sweet joy would be gone in a couple of years.

Jongin would grow up to be just like all the others.  

Good riddance.  

--~~--  

Red Shamans became extinct, their powers no longer needed to keep the Spirits in line, but there was a legend that some Humans still possessed the rare ability to see the Spirits.  A Human with this power was said to be pure at heart, genuinely kind, and innocently curious.   

Unlike the Red Shamans that sought to kill and steal from the Spirits of the Wild, this new generation of Shamans were selfless and positive, just as the Humans of old.  Full of bright energy and good will.  

Understandably, the remaining Spirits did not receive these Humans very well, despite their positive energy.  It took a very long time for any Human, no matter how pure of heart, to regain the trust of the Spirits.

—~~—

A/N: Thank you for such a positive response on the first chapter!  Ya'lls commments are always so great.  I truly appreciate them so much.  

Hope everyone is doing well with school (killing those midterms) and work!!  Holidays are coming!  Yay! 

<3

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