Glossary

“So where is this cave the beast is supposed to be chained up in?” Kibum asked as they were all packing up their belongings ready to begin their journey to find the beast.

“Honestly, I am not sure.” Jonghyun said as he folded the blanket, thinking and going over all the scores and books he had read over the years. “In the past, the whole world was one, there weren’t two realms then like there are now; everything was united under one King, Manara.”

“You said he was driven away as far as they could by Manara right, so taking it at the literal sense, that could be somewhere in the southern realm, Shaerir.” Minho supplied.

“That could be true.” Kibum said thinking deeply, “I think I read something about caves in the southern realm too,” Kibum’s heart picking up pace when he recalled the memory of  ‘a cluster of caves hidden at the edge of the world’.

“Then let’s head out soon.” Jinki said as he helped Jonghyun onto his horse. “I read about a shortcut through the forest and we do not want my father’s guards or worse Daehyun’s soldiers after us.”

-

“I can feel that something is troubling you,” Jonghyun said as he loosened his arms around Jinki as he sat behind him, his face slightly pressed against Jinki’s back as they made way through the forest carefully. He could feel the turmoil inside Jinki, could feel how distracted he was, “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked softly.

Jinki let out a soft sigh, as he guided his horse to follow the others in front of him. Something about Jonghyun, something about those soft brown eyes and warm voice had him opening up his heart to him, opening up all his feelings and emotions to the other, and honestly he hadn’t felt like this before, hadn’t felt such a vulnerability a person’s existence could bring to his own heart. Jonghyun’s whole being was enlightening his own self in ways he had not imagined, not felt like before. A few seconds later he spoke out the thoughts that had been troubling him for some time now. “I’ve been thinking… why did your father let you live? I mean I very glad he did,” he added hastily realizing that he didn’t mean any harm or wish any evil for Jonghyun, “but he wanted us all dead, didn’t he?”

Jonghyun chuckled, “Mother’s curse was the reason I survived. With no magical prowess, I did not qualify as the prophesied child nor as an heir to the throne. So my presence did not harm him nor did it benefit him, so he just let me be.” Jonghyun said lightly as his hands completely let go of Jinki’s waist.

“Did you get in trouble for reading the old stolen texts?” Jinki asked as he instinctively caught hold of Jonghyun’s hands from behind and wrapped them around his waist, deep in thought.

Jonghyun smiled shyly at the subconscious yet totally welcoming gesture Jinki did, he buried his face in Jinki’s back, inhaling, hoping Jinki could not feel how his heart was beating at their proximity. He had missed Jinki dearly, missed how attentive he was to him, how he used to care for him when they were young, missed this warmth another person could offer. “I did,” he said softly, his cheek squished against Jinki’s shoulder, “but it wasn’t that harsh. I did not have a voice back then, so he did not have to worry about me speaking with anyone. But he did increase the number of guards that followed me around. I escaped, but they were always so close, right behind me. I could not have gotten rid of them had your father’s men not intervened.” he felt Jinki’s fingers gently squeeze his own in reassurance, providing him the comfort and warmth he had always been looking for.

“How about you?” Jonghyun added a few minutes later, “How have you been?” Jonghyun asked eagerly.

“Well… I can say that life has been good; the curse allowed me to attend all the seminaries and I got to meet those two,” Jinki gestured to Minho and Kibum riding in front of them. “But, if I be truly honest with myself, I guess I was pretty dissatisfied. I knew I was being lied to, knew things were kept from me.” He took Jonghyun’s hand in his and guided it to the mark on his chest.

Jonghyun traced the mark with his fingertips, feeling it from above the cloth, humming softly.

Jinki continued when Jonghyun did not say anything, “My parents told me I was kidnapped by bandits and my time with them was so traumatizing that I didn’t remember it. But I knew it was wrong, this mark did not look like some bandits work. Everytime I looked at myself, looked at the faint mark I had this uneasy feeling in my heart, like I was trying to grasp something that wasn’t there. To find out more about what this was I insisted on attending all the seminaries, trying to find answers in all the books and teachings the different seminaries could offer; but I guess I was looking in the wrong place,” he added with a sigh. “I am sorry. We should’ve met sooner, you shouldn’t have gone through all that, you should’ve been here with me.” he finally voiced out the guilt that had been weighing down his heart ever since he had gotten his memories back and recognized Jonghyun.

Jonghyun entwined his fingers with Jinki’s, giving them a squeeze, He could understand the guilt that was coloring Jinki’s heart, but it was never Jinki’s fault to begin with. “You don’t have to apologize, it was never your fault. And I think it all worked out for the best, we still found each other.” He added as he wrapped his arms around Jinki’s waist again, it had taken them long, more than a decade to find each other, but they were together now and honestly that was the only thing that mattered to him.

Jinki hummed, his fingers gently Jonghyun’s on his stomach. Honestly he was glad he was born on the blood moon, born as the prophesied child; because it brought all of them in his life. If he had born as just the blessed crown prince he never would have met Minho and Kibum, would have attended the Aemer seminary and would have been trained and conditioned to be the next king. If he wasn’t the prophesied child, he never would have found Jonghyun, never would have known about his existence, and now he realized how truly sad and regrettable a life like that would have been.

“If you two are done catching up, we have a situation here.” Kibum hollered back at the two who were trailing behind the rest. They saw the barren land begin at the foot of the hill, stretching out as far as their eyes could see, a sand storm raging through.

“The horses don’t want to go down,” Kibum informed, “I tried calming them, but it doesn’t seem to work.”

“They… they aren’t scared of the sand storm,” Jonghyun said as he got down, “They fear the land itself,” he said as he softly the mane of Jinki’s horse. He could feel the fear that was slowly making its way through the horse’s mind upon the sight of the lifeless landscape below them.

“Why would they fear the land… unless,” Minho trailed off looking at Jonghyun.

“Yes,” Jonghyun nodded, “This is the place where Manara and the beast, Shiraen, fought.” Jonghyun informed them. “They can feel the devastation this place harbours, I can feel it too,” he patted the horse’s mane, trying to calm it. He could hear the whispers in the wind as it blew past, informing him, complaining to him about the dreariness it felt blowing through something so devoid of life like that.

“How do your father’s men get across?” Jinki asked, from what they had learned so far it seemed like  Daehyun’s men would cross over and visit the other realm even if their horses would not cooperate with them.

“They force the animals to go through if there is someone who can control the animal’s mind.” He had overheard his father’s men talking about going to the southern realm. Overheard how cruel they were with the horses, brainwashing them, pushing them to their limits. “If not they just walk through and then get on the horses that wait for them on the other side,” he added.