Glossary

That night they set up camp on the banks of the river, exhausted from their journey through the small hills behind Changmin’s mansion. Like he had directed they had found the river; and the river was no ordinary one, it was so wide that they could not see the other bank from where they stood, almost like a huge sea flowing through the land.

Jinki held Jonghyun close as they tried to fall asleep. All of Jonghyun’s senses were alert, heightened, sensitive, because of all the whispers he could hear. The trees behind them, warning him, advising him to turn around, the water flowing past them speaking of the danger they were headed towards. Occasionally hearing the beast’s soft cries in his head did not help too.

“Just focus on my voice,” Jinki said softly, “Just listen to my voice alone, just concentrate on me,” he said, “this torment will end soon,” he whispered, Jonghyun’s back.

Jonghyun nodded, letting Jinki engulf him, his face pressed against Jinki’s shoulder. He closed his eyes, trying to close his mind to all the chaos around him, trying to focus only on Jinki’s gentle voice, his soft smile, Jinki’s presence comforting him beyond measure and he eventually fell asleep, too tired to even distract himself.

They traveled upstream, following the river, most of their journey being spent in silence as they all had a lot on their minds. Many questions, many doubts, many suspicions, but they didn’t have the heart or courage to voice them. When the waterfall came into view, they were astounded by how beautiful it was.

The colors of the leaves around the waterfall were a stark red, the pebbles that lay at the base and along the banks of the river had gradually darkened to a deep black, bringing out the blue of the water and the red in the leaves.

“Are the caves behind the fall?” Minho asked, getting off his horse.

“Yes,” Kibum said, “The water hides the entrance to it; we’ll have to climb up to reach it.” He informed, confirming it from the maps given by Changmin.

“Let’s retire for today,” Jinki suggested, “We need all our strength to climb up and we don’t know what lies ahead in the cave.”

“I am sure the caves are bewitched,” Jonghyun commented, “Knowing my father, he wouldn’t leave the beast… leave his secret so vulnerable, so defenseless.”

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“Can’t fall asleep?” Jinki asked as he sat down beside Taemin, all the others had fallen asleep; the first time in a while that Jonghyun fell asleep before Jinki, exhausted beyond belief, but here was Taemin, awake, staring at the waterfall.

“Hm, just thinking,” Taemin smiled, making space for Jinki to sit with him in front of the fire.

“And what are you thinking about, little brother?” Jinki ruffled Taemin’s hair. The past week had been too much for him, there was a lot going on with him, with Jonghyun and he hadn’t spoken to Taemin as much as he would have liked.

“Just about tomorrow… what is our tomorrow is going to be like? What awaits us in that cave?” He raised his head in the direction Kibum had suggested the caves to be.

“Hm,” Jinki thought for a second, looking in the same direction, “I am not sure what we are going to find in there, but no matter what I will protect you, after all, you’re my precious Taeminnie.” Jinki smiled, wrapping his arm around Taemin’s shoulder.

Taemin snorted, “As if, I am the one who always ends up saving all your asses,” his smile faded, “But you are the prophesied one, you both, and what if that requires-”

“Hey,” Jinki cut of Taemin’s trail of thoughts, “I refuse to believe that I was born to just to die in some cave for a beast, for this world,” Jinki said sternly, “I will never allow that… I cannot give up Jonghyun’s life and my life for that; I’ve only just found my reason… the meaning for my life, I will never give up that. And if the prophecy requires us to die, then we all will watch the world burn down before it burns us as well.” He turned to Taemin, smiling at him, “You understand that? Get it in your head, I will not leave you alone, unless… you decide to be as obnoxious as those two.”

Taemin chuckled, he had faith in his brother’s words. He uttered them without much care but never lightly. If he meant to burn the world, he truly would. And Taemin knew he would be at his side even then. His smile mellowed and his dread dissipated quite a bit as he thought upon the rest of what his brother spoke. Of how now there truly was a reason, an aim, a determination in his brother, unlike how lost he used to seem before Jonghyun had been brought to the castle. It was precious and he was happy for both of them, but he just could not let it pass without teasing. They were too corny around each other. “I must say… do you two really forget that there are others around you? Or is it perhaps some spell Jonghyun has you under? I mean a literal one. With the amount of time you have so openly professed your love to him, more than I feeling sick, I believe it must be you.”

“Wait till you find someone, and you bet I will be breathing down your neck, trying to break you both apart,” Jinki teased back, understanding Taemin’s intentions from his mischievous smiles.

Taemin rolled his eyes at that. “He’s a good guy… Jonghyun,” Taemin said a few minutes later, “You both look good together,” he added softly.

“He really is, isn’t he?” Jinki sighed blissfully, “And he is really cute, so sweet-”

“Oh god, I shouldn’t have said that,” Taemin threw some pebbles at Jinki, “I am going to sleep, keep your serenades for Jonghyun’s ears only,” he headed for his bedroll.

“Hey, you asked for it. Come back here,” Jinki called out after Taemin, chuckling.

The next day they set about their tasks with an uncertain heart, hiding their reluctance at times and moving ahead with caution. They decided to use the ropes that Changmin had given them to climb up the jagged, rocky surface behind the fall. They tied one end of the rope around themselves and the other end around a spearhead. Jinki used his powers, all his strength to precisely secure the spearheads near the cave entrance they could see from below.

Kibum led the trek, growing the small plants in the cracks in the boulder to act as footholds. The climb up was tricky; the moisture from the fall made it easy to lose one’s footing, but the five of them persisted.

Jonghyun smiled at Jinki who helped him up inside the cave, “This is the right one,” Jonghyun said looking around, “I can feel the magic in the air,” he added. One step in, and he could sense that the stifling atmosphere of the cave was hiding something. “Be careful,” he instructed, “We still do not know if there are any protective enchantments,” as he followed the rest.

“Oh, there sure are,” Kibum said, waving the torch he held, illuminating the huge stone blocking their way, “I tried breaking it by growing some roots, but that didn’t work.” He gestured to the numerous plants at his feet that had failed to penetrate the stone. He looked at Minho, “Can you break it?” he asked, making space so Minho could be closer to the stone.

Minho ran his fingers along the stone’s surface, “Let me try,” he chanted under his breath, drawing out a spark from his fingers, which he directed to the stone, letting it spread along the stone’s surface; but that didn’t even result in a small scratch on its surface.

Hands. Jonghyun heard a faint whisper, he looked around not sure what or who had whispered to him. He usually could tell who the whisper was from, but this one was very ambiguous, so vague and broad, he couldn’t wrap his mind around its source. “I… I think we have to break it with