Chapter 25 -  His Sanctuary 

Yoonmi’s POV: 

Is it weird that I’m suddenly feeling so... anxious? Like, there’s something in my heart telling me that something was wrong. Something very bad has just happened. 

Maybe I’m just imagining things? 

“Miss Lee, focus!” Someone yelled at me. 

I instantly snapped my attention to the voice. It was Daniel. And he was making loud hand gestures for me to run. I looked behind me to see the four of my competitors gaining speed. Almost instantly, I pushed my body forward and ran to the finish line. 

Just like the theoretical classes this morning, the practical classes have been broken down into various small classes. Right now, Daniel is making us run all around the field to increase our stamina. 

Apparently, warrior-to-warrior fights are not the only fights that will be happening here in this Academy. Part of the monthly examinations that will be occurring in almost three weeks from now on, involves wielders to fight against each other. Which means total hand-to-hand combats, self defence, body training and weapon training are also a part of the regular practical classes. They will equip us and our bodies in handling the heat of the arena that all first years will soon face in the coming few weeks. And that is why, Daniel has put us through a rigorous start. 

Unfortunately, even with my previous advanced self defence training, I’m still huffing and puffing like a fat fish who has just been pulled out of the water. 

“And you’re dead!” I heard him yell as I plastered my body against the ground while the other three competitors continued to run. I hate running. “Get up you wheezing, puffy little fish! You’re making me cry!” He yelled at my tired body. 

I rolled my eyes, ignoring his calls. He’s turning into the big, bad hitler today. I liked the old Daniel better. 

“Ya!” I covered my ears at his yell. He was now yelling at some other kid. I let him. 

My heart was beating at a pace so loud that I could almost feel it coming out of my chest. Even my deep, ragged, loud breathing was not a match for it. I tried to calm the beating down but got distracted when a small snicker echoed to my right. I turned my head to source of the noise only to see Mina snickering at my tired, sweaty figure. The little dark chuckles she let loose made my right eye twitch. As a courtesy, I stuck out my middle finger at her face. And the mocking smile turned into an absolute glare.  

I saw her walk towards me but someone’s feet blocked her. The familiar white sneakers were enough for me to let out my own series of smirks at my arch enemy’s stony face. The boy who stopped her from moving forward glared at her, daring her to come forth. She didn’t. Instead, she threw me the most ugliest glare in the world before rejoining her group of lackeys. 

“Thank you, Soo.” 

The boy didn’t reply. Instead, he lifted up my tired form in a bridal style and placed my head against the nearest trunk of a large tree. Adjusting my position, he made sure that I was sitting up right before handing me a small water bottle.  

“I’m glad I gave you the right name. You are slow, just like a turtle.” I grinned at him. 

“Well, there’s only one of me.” I said, gulping down the water from the bottle. 

Every wielder around us were being tended to their needs. Each of the wielder were being taken care of by their own specific warriors who brought them necessity things like water breaks, towels, food and dry cheer. I looked at my own warrior. He was wiping my forehead with a cold towel. 

“Stop, you don’t have to do this.” I suddenly said, realising how wrong this was. 

“It’s fine, turtle. You need all the help you can get.” My earth warrior said, ignoring my feeble attempts at pushing his hands away. 

“But I feel bad.” 

“Trust me, I’m doing this on my own accords. If I didn’t want to, I would have made you work for it.” 

I smiled a little. What he said was kinda true. After all, he’s the big bad bully of the house. 

It’s funny how his caring side always takes away my stress instantly. 

Uhh... guys? 

Both Kyungsoo and I looked down at the little pouch connected to my hip. 

“Chen?” I called out, placing a hand on the pouch. His card was in there. 

Something is wrong, Yoonmi. I could feel it. 

I looked at Kyungsoo. He seemed to have heard the words too. 

“What is it?” He called out, placing his own hand over mine. 

Sehun. He’s calling out to me through the winds. He wants us to come back home. 

I frowned. The wind? I didn’t hear anything in the wind. Infact, there’s no wind here. With such a cold weather, wind has been silent and missing away from action. 

As if on cue, I felt a burst of fresh wind hit my face. It soothed the sweat I had on my face but it also reminded me of the coldness of the atmosphere that I had temporarily forgotten due to my little running session. 

We have to go back. There’s something wrong. 

Feeling a sense of dread fill inside me, I slowly picked myself up and grabbed the red jacket that was sitting on the ground. It covered the small shorts and the red polo shirt that was known as my training uniform. My other uniform was already in my hands. I quickly looked around for my little pup. 

“I got him. Let’s go.” Kyungsoo said, holding Tan up in his hands. I quickly nodded and we ran away from the field, ignoring Daniel’s loud calls. 

*****

“What the hell happened?!” I screamed as soon as I barged through the front door. Both sehun and baekhyun were crying in their spots on the sofa. Sehun’s face was completely tear stricken with his cheeks and eyes all puffy and red, while baekhyun was trying to hold back from wailing loudly. 

“Guys?” I called out again, totally alarmed by the scene happening infront of me. Chen has also appeared next to me, instantly heading for Sehun. 

“Sehun, what happened?” He repeated my question. “Why did you call out to me through your power?” 

The youngest boy sniffed before looking at his older brother. 

“I-it’s c-chan-y-yeol hyung... h-he’s g-gone.” He sobbed. 

We looked at him in confusion. It was baekhyun who explained it further. 

“I’m sorry, Yoonmi.” He suddenly apologised coming closer to me with tears in his eyes. “I swear we were just playing and then suddenly, he slipped and t-then, h-he got him. He got chanyeol. Minseok hyung got to yelloie. He took him!” 

I gasped, moving back a bit. My body froze as my lungs squeezed out all the air. I could feel my mind going numb as the seriousness of the situation hit me. 

That icy man... their oldest brother. He took chanyeol. 

“I’m sorry! I’m really sorry! We should have been more careful.” The pink-haired boy cried as he pulled onto his silky hair. 

I just stood there in shock. Chanyeol was gone. My fire breathing warrior was gone. I didn’t know what to do. 

Suddenly, I heard a loud human growl. I just managed to catch a short figure storming up to baekhyun and slammed the pink-haired boy against the nearest wall roughly. The loud impact and the sudden dryness of the pot of flowers on the side window was enough to tell me that it was Kyungsoo. 

“Are you ing kidding with me, hyung?!” He screamed, catching baekhyun’s shirt roughly. He shook the weeping boy continually. “How the did he go across the protection line? We told you to stay within the limits of the line! Then why?!”

“I told you, we-we were just playing. Chanyeol... h-he slipped on the water and ended up outside. We didn’t know that hyung would be out there waiting for us.” Baekhyun pleaded, crying his eyes out. 

My earth warrior grumbled and let go of his brother. 

“!” He screamed, hitting his palm against the wall. “Why couldn’t you guys be more careful?” 

“I’m sorry. We were just playing!” Baekhyun pleaded loudly, dropping into another fit of tears. “We didn’t know. We were just bored.” 

I could see tears in all of their eyes now. Chen looked like he was having an argument with himself while the other three were trying not to fall apart. 

That’s when sehun said the thing we were all dreading to hear. 

“He... he’s... h-hyung is going to k-kill him, isn’t he?” He sobbed, looking at Chen with guilt and regret covering his eyes. 

Everyone in the room stiffened at that. I, however, pulled my jacket off and ran to the backyard. I heard their calls behind me, but I ignored them. Coming up to the protection line of the house, I looked at the spot where a large circle of ice was covering the grass. There was a frozen butterfly on it. It looked dead and dull with ice forming over it. The butterfly’s body was positing in a way that it forms an arrow, pointing towards the dark forest. I instantly understood what he wants. He wants me to follow the trial. 

A sudden anger rushed through me. How dare he? How dare he took my warrior? He had no right! 

“Yoonmi!” I ignored the call. It was Chen. I slowly took a step towards the line. “Yoonmi, stop!” 

“No!” I yelled, feeling my anger get the best of me. “I’m going to bring him back!” 

Before I could step out of the line, Chen had quickly grabbed onto me. I wiggled and squirmed in his grip as he forced me to turn around. Damn, he’s too strong. What does this boy eat? 

“Yoonmi, no!” He yelled, capturing my face in his hands. I could smell that alluring electric smell on him. “Yoonmi, it’s a trick. He wants to lure you out. You can’t go!” 

“He has chanyeol, Chen. I think we are way past that point.” I said, pushing him off before stumbling my way outside of the line. 

Almost on cue, I felt the cold, over-bearing chill of the atmosphere. It stung against my bare skin that was exposed through my shorts and the polo shirt. Ignoring my Warrior’s calls, I made a straight dash to the forest. Pushing all of my energy into my legs, I followed the trail of dead butterflies that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It sickened me that the boy was killing so many natural creatures with his power. It was downright power abuse. 

At some point, I nearly gagged when I saw a small blue humming bird, hung upside down with its beak forming the next arrow. The eyes were wide opened while its body was covered in solid ice. It almost felt hard and rock-type. He must have frozen it hard. 

“Where the hell are you?!” I screamed in anger as I reached a large clearing in the forest. Everything here was covered in solid ice. The lake was frozen and the trees were covered in snow. It almost seemed like a magical winter land but the air around here was dark, ominous and almost sinister and forbidding. 

The whole place was too silent. There was no sound. I couldn’t hear any chirping of the birds or the sweet ringing of the winds. It was just dead cold and solid ice. 

“Come on you big, bad brute!” I yelled once again, walking to the middle of the clearing. The cold was biting against my skin. “You wanted me here! You wanted to lure me out! And look, here I am! Now, where the hell is my warrior?! Where is chanyeol?!” 

A loud chuckl