C h a p t e r  F o u r

 

"Magic becomes art when it has nothing to hide."

 – Ben Okri

 

Soundtrack for this chapter : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXHsfUQzE0s

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If you didn’t know Skye, you had to know Hyunseok. The two were twins, literally – Skye being only ten minutes older than him. The two at first were inseparable until Hyunseok hit puberty and became a ert.

“Yunji-yah,” he whispered. “What are you doing here, all alone in an alley?”

“That’s Nuna¹ to you.” Skye scoffed, shoving him off. “I’m getting air and I’m trying to figure things out.” She walked away and thought about what she could do to get those SHINee guys to go with her and Storm back to the council.

“Maybe I could be of help to you.” He said with a suspicious smile.

“No.” Skye said without a second thought. This was a serious mission and it was entrusted to her and Storm. She wasn’t going to let anything distract her from whatever plan she would have to come up with.

“But –” he started. Then he noticed something, a small spark in her hair. He stopped. She was getting irritated, he could tell.

Whenever Skye got angry, her eyes would turn black and you could see the electrical currents run down her hair.

There had to be a way for SHINee to follow them back to the Council. It was a fact that if the Council was after you, you’d know. Everyone would be after you, it’d be posted on every clan’s News Board. It wasn’t like they couldn’t let someone else do it. Skye just felt it was better for them to do it since they were assigned the task.

She gave up and sighed hoping Storm had come up with something, but when she got back to the restaurant, she found two of the SHINee members – Jonghyun and Minho – holding her back.

“What happened here?” Skye asked.

“She called me gay, so I called her a half pint ankle biting tomato head.” Key said in a diva tone.

Skye sighed again. You just don’t mess with someone like Storm, the girl’s not very big but she carries a sword with her everywhere except the mundane world – swords aren’t exactly easily concealed.

“I’ll cut you!” Storm yelled, which is pretty possible since her sword was within arm’s length but she was being held back.

“…everyone’s looking.” Taemin mumbled.

“That’s Storm for you…” Skye mumbled back.

Skye had enough and broke up the fight with a small shock to Storm and a slightly bigger shock to the remaining three implicated – though she wouldn’t admit she gave a bigger shock to the boys since it wouldn’t be ‘fair’.

“What was that for?” Key snapped.

Skye ignored him and asked Minho and Jonghyun to put Storm down.

“Let’s head back to my place, I can guarantee you’ll be far from mundies there.” Storm said.

The boys slowly nodded.

“What was your name again?” Onew asked cautiously.

“My name is Storm.” Storm said monotonously.

“No, what’s your whole name?” Onew asked again.

Storm hesitated for a bit. There were plenty of people with the surname Seo, what were the chances that they’d guess who she was? “My name is Seo Chaehee.”

Onew eyed her suspiciously as the boys got out of their seats. “Run!” he yelled.

They all made a break for the door. Why did they always run? Skye looked at Storm who gave her a nod to say she could go on without her, so Skye teleported her way to catch up to them.

Storm gathered her stuff together slowly, not worried about Skye catching up to them. They had probably caught on that she a lot of her family made up the Council. She didn’t particularly care though. She had bigger things on her mind.

It wasn’t that she didn’t like Himchan, he was in fact one of her closest friends, but…she didn’t want to marry him. She didn’t have a choice though, did she?

She paid the tab and made her way out only to find Skye at the front waiting for her with the boys completely still. Minho seemed completely out of it and the others stood there annoyed.

“Did you sing for them?” Storm chuckled. Skye had a power in which she could take over the mind of a target if they heard her sing. Which is probably why they were all there since they couldn’t just leave Minho.

“We know who you are.” Onew scoffed. “Seo Chaehee and Lee Yunji? You’d have to be living under a rock not to know you two.”  He didn’t need Skye to tell him her full name. If you knew one was named Chaehee then the other must be Yunji, especially if their Mage names were Storm and Skye.

“Let’s just get out of here.” Jonghyun grunted. “I don’t even know why the Council is after us.”

“Not like we know either.” Storm sneered. “We were just told ‘Kidnap SHINee’ and here we are, kidnapping you guys.”

They made their way back to the Council building slowly. It wasn’t like the guys could do anything about it. It was either follow them and live or abandon Minho and all of them die.

Skye spotted a familiar head of light brown hair with her head hung down.

“Storm, go on ahead!” she yelled as she chased after the person. Minho’s spell was immediately broken.

“What, aren’t we supposed to be running?” he asked in a daze.

“You could try then I could kill you.” Storm said, motioning for them to move forward. “Really, I don’t feel like chasing after a bunch of hooligans, just do as you’re told and I won’t have to send you to the Council in a bucket.”

The guys shuddered at the thought.

It was known to everyone in the Mage world about the five Noble families – the ‘Lee’s, the ‘Seo’s, the ‘Jo’s, the ‘Kim’s and the ‘Choi’s. Minho was a part of the Noble ‘Choi’s so he knew the capabilities that Storm had inherited. But what was a known fact to the Mage world about Storm and Skye though is Skye is more of the offensive Mage between the pair.

No one knew exactly why, but they had never seen Storm fight with some sort of grand power. Skye had many powers like her ability to manipulate many elements, but she was mainly known for inheriting her mother’s powers. Even during the Second Great Mage War, no one had seen Storm using anything but her sword, and after that, she had disappeared.

The ‘Lee’s and the ‘Seo’s and the ‘Jo’s had different ways of distributing the power in the families. The ‘Lee’s left their powers to one sole child who would become the holder of the mighty abilities. Whereas the ‘Seo’s and ‘Jo’s came to agreement when they were joined to evenly distribute the powers between their offspring.

The ‘Lee’s often controlled elements like Water, Fire, Air, you name it. Whereas the ‘Seo’s and ‘Jo’s were more Spiritual and used spirits. No one out of their household or the Council – since everything has to be told to the Council – though knows why Storm was given four spirits rather than the standard one or two. Getting branded with the spirits was a painful process that some people want to stick to one spirit since they don’t want to go through the process.

As they neared the Council building, Minho felt the sudden urge to flee. He made a break for it and sprinted away, making the rest of the members do the same. Storm yelled in frustration as she ran after them.

Storm had never exceeded in physical activities. Before even being a Mage, she was forced to stay out of the physical activities and she didn’t get to know why until she mastered her powers. She had trained earlier than the average Mage who starts at around the age of twelve, Storm started at age five and mastered her swordsmanship at age twelve. It was from there that training got tough since she had to tame the spirits in order to use them. She had four of them to tame which is perhaps why she was forced into training at such a young age.

Her breath hitched, how long had she been running for? Her vision blurred but she continued to run, she couldn’t let them get away. She felt her hand grab someone, one of them but she couldn’t see who. Her heart rate accelerated as beads of sweat trickled down her face. What was happening?

She continued to grip the person tight, feeling his attempt at prying her off of him. Someone was calling her but she couldn’t focus and let go of the boy. Darkness consumed her as she fell, an unworldly amount of pain shoot through her body.

***

Skye didn’t want to leave Storm alone but she had to go see if it was her. It hadn’t been long since Qri had managed to escape and it had been eating away at her conscience ever since. She caught up to the person only to find that as similar as she seemed, it wasn’t her.

She apologized calmly, but as she left, she screamed in anger. This whole escape thing was driving her mad and there was nothing she could do to fix it, not unless she caught that wench.

Nothing seemed to be working out, and she didn’t know what to do. Too much was going on and – like the rest of the Mage world – she was still hanging onto the losses from the Second Great Mage War. Her energy level was only moderate since she had used teleportation a lot in the less than an hour. It didn’t matter though, the Council building wasn’t too far from where she was.

A flash of red hair caught her eye from across the street. She turned to see five boys running from a barely breathing girl. Of course Skye ran towards the girl, hoping she wouldn’t pass out.

When they became Parabatai, Storm had warned her ahead of time that it was dangerous for her to excel physically. She warned her of many things about her health to make sure that Skye really wanted this. She hadn’t told her why this was the case, but she figured they were even since she hadn’t said anything about ‘The Lee Way’ and it was fine since they respected each other’s privacy.

She noticed Storm grab hold of Key. Key struggled to get the smaller girl off of him, but seemed to be failing.

“Storm!” Skye called. “Do you guys want to die so badly that you’d run?”

“We’re not going to the council!” Onew argued. “I’ve protected these guys as a leader should for decades now. I’m not about to let them get slaughtered by the council for reasons none of us know!”

“What about my Parabatai?” Skye yelled, holding the unconscious red head in her arms. “Every ing Mage knows she doesn’t run or any other like it!”

“It’s hot!” Storm began to yell, clawing at her clothes. “It burns!” Tears sprouted from her shut eyes as she continued to wail about the heat. Her skin though really was hot to the touch like she had been held over a fire.

“Storm, Storm, what’s wrong?!” Skye asked in panic. “This is your faults, so take responsibility unless you want the Council on your for potentially killing one of their kin!”

Minho picked her up, feeling a surge of guilt wash over him. He felt his skin burn with heat as he made contact with Storm. He shouldn’t have run, and now they were in deep by not only Skye, but the Council.

Storm’s breathing became heavy, and suddenly she felt as cold as ice. “What the …” Minho breathed, feeling her sudden temperature drop.

“What’s wrong?” Skye asked worriedly.

“She feels like she’s dead.” He said darkly. “It’s like her body temperature just dropped by a hundred degrees!”

Hearing this, they sped up. The boys didn’t want to see the Council, but they weren’t bad people either, they felt guilty for what was happening.

Once they reached there, they took the portal to the top floor where they interrupted a brief meeting.

“I see you have surrendered yourselves.” Said one of the council members, Sunye.

“We aren’t here to surrender, but we are here to save this girl’s life.” Key said solemnly.

The Council looked at Minho who held an abnormally pale Storm in his arms.

“My Baby!” yelled Eunae as she rushed out of her seat. “What have you done to her, you monsters!”

They looked at Storm who suddenly had two bump like things looking as if they were going to break out of her skin through her forehead. She began to squirm and scream in a voice unlike her own.

“Give me her!” Byunghun yelled. The council members who were linked with the ‘Seo’s and ‘Jo’s rushed through a portal opened by Hyori, Storm’s paternal aunt. Soon, visible horns were coming out of Storm’s head. Which was the last way Skye saw Storm before Byunghun jumped through the portal.

“What is that thing?” Taemin choked out.

“That thing is my best friend!” Skye yelled, sending an enormous shock to his arm. “What’s wrong with her? Why is she like that?” she questioned the Council who remained.

“Have a seat.” Narsha said. “You fellows may listen in if you’d like.” Everyone pulled out a chair and sat down quietly.

“You all may already know that Storm was trained earlier than the rest of you, but there was a reason behind that. We covered it up by saying she was a prodigy, but she is a normal Mage like the rest of you.”

“Normal?” Key said. “She had horns coming out of her head!” Skye shot a menacing glare at him to shut him up.

“That’s because when she turned five, Lucifer had made an attack, and the only way at the time that we could think of sealing him away was in a person. At that time, both her maternal and paternal grandfathers – Jo Chilsung and Seo Yongsun – thought it would be some sort of experiment in which we could do to see if it was possible for a mage to tame a demon from within. We did that to Storm hoping that as the years went by, we’d discover how to do it. She was but a mere child and she didn’t have much strength, especially against Lucifer of all Demons. But we tried anyways with disastrous results.

She trained early so that she could become stronger to suppress Lucifer. She has four spirits so that they can protect her. This is the Council’s greatest secret which absolutely will not leave this room. If anyone from Leviathan knew that Lucifer was in this girl, they’d come after her and kill her. We know Storm is strong, strong enough to have already joined the Council, but she is weak when she must draw spirits, and she cannot possibly face off against a whole clan of Black Magic users on her own.

I don’t know how much I should stress to keep this a secret. If the Mage world knew we were harbouring a Demon amongst us, it’d be chaotic. They’d accuse us of being hypocrites, there’d be no justice. Which reminds me, it’s also Sungyeon and Hayoung’s first time hearing about this. But you understand that it’s just a young girl, and she has nothing to do with this, we cannot harm her more than we have. As for you, SHINee, we…we will let you go except one of you if you keep this secret.” Narsha finished the story and introduced the two newest Council members. They were previously in Killer Instict, Skye knew that, but she didn’t feel it was right for strangers to know this secret.

“If even one of us doesn’t get to go, there’s no deal.” Onew said.

“I’m afraid we can’t let that happen.” Nichkhun – a Mage who joined The Tribe during the Second Great Mage War – spoke up. “One of you is harbouring a Black Magic user, and he could be a part of Leviathan for all we know.”

“That’s not possible!” Taemin defended. “None of us are part of Leviathan nor are we Black Magic users.”

“Then take the test.” BoA said calmly. “If you guys are so confident that you can trust each other to not be Black Magic users, then take the test.”

“Fine!” Jonghyun agreed loudly.

The aura around the group felt heavy and stank with doubt. Their paranoia began to take over believing that one of them was actually a Black Magic user. The topic was never brought up amongst them, they were like brothers – the no secret policy was something they stuck by.

“Seulong, come here and start it.” Narsha ordered. Seulong was an expert in Demonology – a term they didn’t like to use since it sounded quite silly. He had been raised in a family of Demon slayers who had been around since the Mage act was signed.

“Black Magic users often have the mark of a Demon since it’s Demons who use Black Magic.” Seulong explained. Black Magic is also called the Demon’s Magic. “Starting with their Serial Number, so I will need Kahi’s help.”

Kahi was their analyst, she had every Mage’s ‘Serial Number’ memorized and stored away. Even the slightest change in a Mage’s ‘Serial Number’ could suggest they have tampered with Black Magic.

“Come here.” She ordered. “On your order.”

“I’ll start with you, the boy who looks like a Dinosaur.” Seulong barked. Jonghyun stepped forwards and stood still as Seulong grabbed his head. “What’s your name?”

“Kim Jonghyun…sir.” Jonghyun said nervously.

“Kim Jonghyun…part of the Noble Kim household. May I?” Kahi asked. Seulong gave her a nod before he moved Jonghyun’s right ear out of the way to check his code. “2 46344 56831 3. 8373, he’s clear.”

Seulong shoved him aside and grabbed hold of Taemin. “My name is Lee Taemin, sir.” Taemin said weakly. For whatever reason it was, he was terrified of Seulong. Perhaps it was because Seulong was a Council member, or maybe he really was afraid that one of them was a Black Magic user.

Taemin was familiar with what happened when people used Black Magic. His parents were Black Magic users, and he watched as a child while they destroyed themselves. They looked like Demons too, they couldn’t hide it from him, so he killed them.

“5 65467 88825 2.” Kahi said. “8252, he’s clear.”

Were his Hyungs really Black Magic users? Taemin wondered to himself. Would he have to kill them one day like he did to his parents? As they approached Onew, Taemin felt a sudden air of fear coming from one of the guys.

“Lee Jinki, Mage name, Onew.” He said unmoved. He wasn’t scared. He knew that his friends wouldn’t sink to the level of using Black Magic.

“6 68245 68237 6.” Kahi noted. “2376, he’s clear.”

As they made their way towards Key, the air of fear became well evident to everyone in the room. “Anything you want to say, boy?” Seulong sneered.

“N-no.” Key stuttered, a grave mistake on his part. “I am Kim Kibum, Mage name, Key.”

“Hyung²?” Taemin asked, looking at him. Key gave a weak smile back to Taemin.

“8 65245 55125 2.” Kahi said. “It’s him. Kim Kibum, better known as Key’s Serial Number is supposed to be 8 95245 55155 3.”

“Just how long have you been active in Black Magic that both your Familial numbers could be changed?” Seulong snarled. When he stayed silent, Seulong snapped. “Answer me when I speak to you!”

“Key, answer him!” Jonghyun said, unbelieving that his best friend would willingly take part in Black Magic.

“I can’t.” he said weakly. “Just let them go, and I’ll take punishment.”

Taemin’s arms shook. “You lying bastard!” he yelled. “You knew ing well how I felt about goddamn Black Magic users!” He made a leap to attack his Hyung but was stopped by Minho.

“We’re in the Council office, stay out of trouble.” He said in a sad voice.

“Key…please explain to us clearly, WHY THE you are so avid in Black Magic using.” Onew asked sharply.

“Hyung, I would really rather not say.” Key said. But then he turned to look at the angry face of Taemin, the hurt face of Jonghyun and the upset face of Minho. “My…my family, well my parents…they’re Black Magic users, I grew up with it believing it was alright, I trained with it. I didn’t know it was wrong until I had met the guys. And…I think my cousin is a part of Leviathan.”

It occurred to Taemin suddenly that Key would be disowned if he made it out of the Council alive after giving them up. To Key, family came first over everything because of his grandmother. If he were to be disowned, no one would take care of her, especially not a bunch of Demon summoning freaks. A Black Magic using household was like a Drug Addict house.

“L-Leviathan?!” BoA asked incredulously. “If you cooperate with us, we could provide you protection.”

It was their first break with the whole Leviathan search and they wouldn’t let it slip away from them.

“I don’t need any protection, give it to my grandmother and I’ll tell you everything you want to know.” Key said shakily. “I just need her to be protected.”

“Deal, now tell me who your cousin is.” BoA ordered.

“Since we’re on this topic…maybe I should bring up the fact that I discovered that Qri is part of Leviathan and she has gone missing.” Skye said nonchalantly as if it were casual talk.

“And you didn’t bother to mention this sooner?” Sunye asked, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

“Well, I’m sorry that it slipped my mind between the news about my Parabatai carrying the ing Morning Star in her, and kidnapping a bunch of Korean singers.” Skye said a little too snarky.

Sunye shot her a glare. “The point is, you should have told us as soon as you found out!”

“I only found out last night!” Skye argued.

“Enough!” came a voice from the other end of the room. It was Hyori. She stepped out of the portal and so did the rest of the Council who had left. The last one to enter was an awfully quiet Storm. “Just which cousin do you speak of, Key?”

“My cousin Kim Jaeseop, better known by his Mage name, AJ.” Key confessed in a strained voice. “Will you really provide protection for my Halmeoni³?”

“We will, in fact we’ll do it immediately.” Nichkhun said, trying to comfort the frightened boy. It wasn’t his fault that he grew up in an environment where everything was powered with Black Magic.

“Chaehee-yah, you can leave now.” Rain – Storm’s uncle who is married to Hyori – said gently. No one really saw the Council as nice Mages. They were terrifying killing machines to the public eye, which is perhaps why the boys were so surprised at Rain’s kindness towards the small girl. It was perhaps only Storm and Skye who knew how nice the Council Mages actually were. Well, maybe not nice, but kind enough that they weren’t seen as Mages who would kill whenever they felt like it.

“I’m not sure why this happened.” Jo Kwon said, with his eyebrows knitted together. “Did you not take your…medication?”

“I guess I forgot.” Storm said hoarsely. “A lot has happened and I didn’t remember to take it at all the whole day yesterday.”

“Well, don’t forget again.” He said, his niece’s hair. “Skye, I’m leaving her in your care. I don’t want her near the kids in this condition. Remind her to take her…medication and make sure she doesn’t do too much of anything really. Get her to the Estate to grab her things and leave to some place confined. Too much human interaction could cause problems.” He ordered, talking about Storm’s sister’s – Seohyun’s – kids who lived with under the care of the Seo and Jo family.

Skye looked at her friend with pity. But…what medication? “Let’s go.” She said, holding Storm who looked as if she was about to fall. As the two of them exited, the boys also stared with pity. On the streets, there were many rumours going around, that’s true but it was always just rumours. Storm and Skye weren’t a frightening duo bent on destroying, they were just normal Mages. What started this rumour?

***

Storm and Skye were at the tree house once again, just sitting in silence. When suddenly, Skye spoke up.

“So…I know about…” she didn’t know how to say it without it sounding bad.

“I see.” She said with a sad tone. “So you know that I carry one a Demon in me, I’m pretty much weak and I can’t do anything.”

“I didn’t mean it like that. You know that’s for sure.” Skye said softly.

“No, you did, just not in those words.” Storm muttered. “I wouldn’t blame you though.”

“I guess we’re even, huh?” Skye said with a light giggle.

“You mean the whole ‘Lee Way’ thing?” Storm asked with a raised eyebrow. “Well, I never really minded that you didn’t tell me. I guess it’s for the best that I didn’t know? I’m not sure.”

Skye gave a small smile to Storm. “Don’t forget that medicine of yours.”

Storm looked down, her head hanging low. “Could…could you leave for that?” she asked. “I don’t want you to see.”

“Storm, I need to know how you do it and where you keep it on you just in case something happens.” Skye insisted.

“I’m ashamed.” Storm said through tears. “I have to do this, and I hate it. I hate it so much, Yunji-yah.”

Skye looked at her with a frown. “I won’t judge you, I know you too well to judge you because of something you have to do.”

Storm hesitated. “I…just be reminded that I take this because I need to, not because I want to.” Skye gave her a brief nod.

Storm shuffled through her sports bag – something she oddly had since she didn’t do any sports – and pulled out a tiny tube, a mirror and a tiny plastic bag filled with a white powder like substance.

“What’s in the bag?” Skye asked.

“Methamphetamine. Better known to mundies as Meth.” Storm said quietly as she placed some on the mirror and used her sword’s blade to divide them into small rows. “Meth…it stops hunger and sleep. It tames the Demon, but it’s affects also wear me out. It doesn’t really affect me, not as much as it affects the mortals. It agitates the spirits though, they get really loud, sort of like what Schizophrenia is, but I actually do have voices that speak to me rather than it being an illness. Humans use it to treat ADHD, I have to use it to tame the ing raging Demon inside me.”

Skye looked at Storm once over. She had never taken a good look at her friend’s face – you generally don’t do that to a person. The dark circles seemed more visible suddenly, her frail structure seemed more evident. “So you snort it, but what if –”

“If anything happens, use the needle.” Storm said. “I don’t use it because I could contract something from it. It’s just safer this way.”

Skye winced watching her friend snort the white powder. It was no wonder that she didn’t want her to see this. It was repulsive. She wouldn’t tell her, but it was. Druggies – as the mortals called them – in Skye’s mind were like those who abuse Black Magic. She herself, secretly though, used Black Magic. She trained with it a bit. She hated that she breached the trust of the Council, but wasn’t it better to know more about it in case of emergency? What better way to defeat it than getting with it hands on? It didn’t mean that she abused it though. You don’t see her summoning Demons from hell all of a sudden, now do you?

Once Storm was done, she pulled out a book and began to read. Skye had never seen this side of her, maybe it was why they never slept over at each other’s homes.

“I won’t be sleeping, believe me. Just sleep, I’ll keep an eye out for anything.” She said with a lopsided smile. “Don’t worry, I won’t release Lucifer on you.”

Skye chuckled, feeling better that Storm seemed to be recovering, but she couldn’t help but be bothered by the day’s occurrences.

***

The next day, Skye woke up only to find something taped to her face. She took whatever it was off and looked at it. It was a note written on a yellow sticky note.

‘Had a ‘time-for-my-life-to-end’ meeting, forgot about it. I’ll see you later.’ Skye read to herself. She knew that the whole life ending meeting thing was about her arranged marriage so she dropped it.

Skye gathered her things, got dressed in fresh clothes and headed out the tree house. To the average mundane, the tree house wasn’t there at all if he or she ever came across it. If your spiritual and your magical energy was high enough, you’d see past the spell. It was a fairly – very – large tree house and it was hard to miss, so the spell prevented other Mages to enter, and in the event where a Mundane were to enter their world, they wouldn’t be able to see it anyways.

Between going down to the mundane world to catch SHINee and finding out that her second half was a Demon carrier, Skye had completely forgotten about getting some training in. So she packed her things and headed for the Clan’s base.

The Purity Mourners’ base was enormous. It was home to many Mages and served as a training area for the members. The Purity Mourners didn’t judge a Mage by their status in society – like many other clans do – those who find themselves worthy would go through an initiation phase and they’d be judged through that. Only the strongest willed Mages could make it through and it was worth it in the end, especially if you were a homeless Mage who was disowned or abandoned. Though they were the most feared aside from the Council – or the Tribe, but not everyone in the Council is part of the Tribe – if you got to know the Mages better, you’d know they weren’t all that bad. You can see them helping old mundane women across streets, picking up litter, and all of that other voluntary stuff that no one seemed to do nowadays.

She stood in front of the big wooden doors and stared at them. She wondered if Jinmo was there, that way she’d have someone to spar with. As she pushed passed the doors, everyone’s attention was directed in her direction.

“Skye!” they greeted before resuming their activities they had put off for that moment.

“Has anyone seen Jinmo?” Skye asked.

“No, he’s still looking for Leviathan.” Said one of the mages – Lee Jieun, or IU.

“How is he going to locate something that he doesn’t even know?” asked G-Dragon – real name, Kwon Jiyong. “No one knows who is a part of Leviathan. For all we know, it’s one of us.”

“Stop that!” hissed CL. “Welcome back, Yunji.” She gave G-Dragon a sharp slap on the shoulder.

“Well, I need someone to spar with.” Skye admitted. At that moment, almost as if on cue, someone came through the door.

“I will.” Said the mystery Mage.

“Cheondung…” Skye gasped.

***

Storm really didn’t want to be there, she didn't even make any effort to look formal for the restaurant. She and Himchan sat next to each other shifting in their seats, occasionally giving the other a quick glance. They had changed their meeting place since the previous accident with Qri.

“I feel that the wedding should be held as soon as possible!” Miri exclaimed.

“No!” the two ‘victims’ exclaimed together.

“They’re so in sync!” Miri cheered, clapping her hands.

“May we be excused?” Himchan asked politely.

“Certainly, but why, dear?” Eunae asked suspiciously. As a member of the Council, it was inevitable that she would be paranoid, especially with what happened the previous day.

“We need to discuss things about the marriage.” He explained. It wasn’t a lie, not at all.

“Alright, don’t be gone too long though.” Yongsook said firmly.

Himchan grabbed Storm’s wrist before taking her out the front of the restaurant.

“I can’t marry you.” They said in unison.

“What, why?” both of them said, slightly offended.

“We have to stop that.” They said again. They cringed. Storm placed a hand over his mouth.

“What’s your reason?” she asked, before releasing her hand.

“I’m not ready to get married. I don’t love you like that, and I don’t believe in marriage without love.” He said confidently. “What’s your reason? Am I not good enough?” he asked with a pout.

“I’m in love with someone else.” She said bluntly. “Don’t ask who, I might tell you one day, but not today. I’d prefer to avoid the topic.”

“Fine, but you’re going to tell me!” he said, looking at her with one eye squinted.

“Maybe…just maybe.” She said with a chuckle. Their lighthearted moment was interrupted when an explosion sounded.

“What the …” Himchan breathed.

***

Skye looked up at the considerably taller male. No one had seen Cheondung for a while, he seemed to have disappeared after a short year after the Second Great Mage War.

“What are you doing here…” Yujin – also known as UEE, Storm’s Cousin – asked with wide eyes.

“Well, I am part of this clan, am I not?” he asked.

It was a funny thing in the Mage world where they were located. They called their guilds ‘clans’ because they believed that once you were together as much as you were in a guild, you should be a family – hence the word clan.

“Let’s just get to the sparring thing, shall we?” he asked Skye.

Skye just gave a curt nod and the two of them headed towards the training grounds.

“Don’t go easy on me, I’ve gotten a lot better than before.” Skye said with a grin.

“The thought never even crossed my mind.” Cheondung replied with a sharp look in his eyes but a grin spread on his face.

Knowing Cheondung all too well, Skye made the first move – otherwise they’d be standing there doing nothing forever.

“Tenryu No Hoko!” Skye called as she drew a breath and let out a hurricane like breath. Cheondung, although taken aback slightly moved away swiftly and sent to her a wave of purple energy that attempted to envelop her. Skye was about to attack again but suddenly felt alert.

She turned into mist and swiftly dodged the attack. “Hold on!” she yelled.

“What’s going on with you?!” Skye asked in panic.

“Come here now! There’s a Demon!” Storm thought loudly.

“Cheondung-ah, come with me! We have some place to go, immediately!” Skye demanded, dragging him out.

***

Storm and Himchan ran from the premises and headed towards the forest nearby. The large Demon was slow, but destroyed much in its path.

Storm spotted Skye coming with…Cheondung?

“What’s wrong?” Skye asked, but then she turned to see the Demon. “Oh, that’s what’s wrong…”

“Yes, that’s what’s wrong!” Himchan said in a panic.

They all got into battle stance.

“Amuzu!” Skye called, focusing on the Demon’s arms. Amuzu allows for Magical attacks to be more effective on the desired area.

“Water Slicer!” Himchan yelled as he projected blades of water out of his body. The blades sliced up the Demon’s arms, cutting them into several sections that fell to the floor.

The Demon cried out in pain and anguish as the thick black blood spurted from the sliced limbs. Just as he had done with Skye, Cheondung did a few hand signs, sending a large surge of purple energy to the Demon. The Demon couldn’t move, he was held down and couldn’t even make an attack. It was obviously one of the lower class Demons.

“Eligos, what brings you here?!” Storm called up to the enormous creature. So maybe she did a bit of studying on Demons. She had all the Demons memorized, so what? When you couldn’t participate like normal young Mages could, you studied while they practiced their Magic.

Disgusting dark slop fell from its razor toothed mouth as he opened it to speak. “I have come for the one who possesses the Dark Prince!”

“We know not of who you speak!” Cheondung called up to it. “Why have you come for us?!”

“I have not come for you, I have come for the small one, the one who recognizes my absolute power!” it roared. Demons liked to be acknowledged, it was a fact. They knew that they were under the more higher ranked Demons, so knowing they were known to the world as something other than ‘that Demon’ was a boost in the ego.

“Why have you come for her?!” Himchan asked.

“Enough!” it snapped. “I will not repeat myself after this! I seek the one who is imprisoning the Dark Prince!”

“Well too bad, you aren’t getting her!” Storm yelled. She pulled out her sword from its sheath that hung loosely around her hips. It was pure white right down to the blade, the only one of its kind. “Out of the way!”

Everyone rushed away from the Demon as Storm held the sword upside down steadily in front of her. “Some no mai, Tsukishiro! First Dance, White Moon!” As the blade began to glow, she swung her arm in a slashing motion towards the energy bound Demon. A circle formed around the Demon and everything began to freeze. The circle shot upwards as a beam of light, freezing everything it touched on the ground and in the air.

“So that’s it, it’s frozen?” Himchan asked.

“Duck.” Skye said. They all ducked down as the ice column exploded, shattering the Demon with it and perhaps a bird who flew within the circle’s area.

“How…” Storm mumbled to herself. How would someone outside of the Council know about the Demon? Time to find those ‘SHINee’ boys.

“So…which one of you is the Demon carrier?” Cheondung asked menacingly. Everyone knew Cheondung wasn’t soft when it came to Demons. 

---

Hey there, here is Chapter Four for you (and just in case you're stupid and you haven't caught on, the next chapter is by LeeSkye06)

WOOT Demon carrier, you found something out! Also, THE LINKS FOR STYLE WORK JUST CLICK THEM THEN PRESS THE URL IN THE ADDRESS BAR AND HIT ENTER. REFRESHING WON'T HELP YOU HAVE TO DO AS I SAY, I TESTED IT BEFORE TELLING YOU. 

I decided to let you guys see who's in which clan since I thought it'd be easier for you guys to follow that way.

And every time a new Leviathan member is revealed you guys can check the front to see who it is!

Umm yeah so vocab words you may or may not know : 

¹ Nuna is the Korean term for Older Sister or Older Woman. Nuna (or Noona) is the male form of Eonni, so Nuna is used by boys (males) rather than girls. 

² Hyung is the Korean term for Older Brother or Older Man. Hyung is what Males use to address their Older males.

³ Halmeoni is the Korean term for Grandmother

I don't know what secrets LeeSkye06 is revealing in the next chapter but here's your Chapter Four. 

COMMENT AND SUBSCRIBE DAMMIT. (<3)

WOOT ANNOYINGLY BRIGHT UNREADABLE COLOURS :D Similar to Chapter Two's but I made it brighter...it hurts to look at this while I type.