CHAPTER TWO | Crows

Jeongin was led ruthlessly through the castle with the woman's arm around him and her hand still pressed to his mouth. This wasn't right. This was wrong. This person was not trying to save him, they were kidnapping him!

Jeongin scratched at her arms to free himself, but she wouldn't budge. Her grip felt cemented around him. He began to panic. It was getting harder to breath the longer she kept her hand on his lips with barely a gap between her fingers to allow him air.

As a group of soldiers ran into them, they immediately questioned her motive and threatened to attack. The woman held her hand out and her black markings twisted around and began to glow red. A beam of light shot out at the soldiers, burning holes through each of them. Jeongin’s eyes widened in terror as they fell lifelessly to the ground. He tried to scream, but it was no use.

There was no doubt about it. The woman had to be a demon. A demon was kidnapping him and he couldn’t do anything about it but be dragged along with her against his will.

She continued, taking him to parts of the castle he had never been in.

Suddenly a man stepped into the hallway before them and the woman stopped in her tracks. She began to yell in a language that sounded far from human. Her grip on Jeongin tightened painfully and he squealed and squinted his eyes as a result.

Why was this happening to him? Who were these people and why were they doing this to him? He was scared. Tears dampened his pale cheeks and he whimpered as the woman took him another direction. She didn't use her hand beams again, this time she was trying to get away in a rush.

Next thing he knew, they were outside in one of the castle's many courtyards. That was when something large collided with the two, sending Jeongin and the woman rolling off in two different directions. He gasped for breath and felt a sharp pain in his ankle. He whined and flopped onto his back to see what had happened. Standing in the middle of the courtyard was some kind of beast that looked similar to a bear but had a more human-like body. "No... No! No! No!" Jeongin cried and tried to back away from the creature that was eyeing him down with blazing crimson eyes. It sniffed the air and a low growl vibrated in its throat.

"Stay away from me!” He pleaded, trying to get back to his feet to run, but the pain in his ankle forced him back down.

The bear-like creature huffed and bared its oversized canines. Without warning, it charged at the young king, ready with its sharp claws. The boy covered his eyes and waited for the impact, but it never came.

Appearing in front of Jeongin, Chan was able to stop the creature by taking its hands into his own. His body trembled against the beast's strength, muscles bulging.

Chan never wanted to reveal himself to Jeongin like this, but he had no choice. His eyes shown a blood red just like the creature in front of him.

"Jeongin ... run!" He yelled and let out an inhuman growl as he began to shove his opponent backwards. Blood trickled down his arm due to the sharpness of the beast's claws between his fingers.

Jeongin was trembling. He felt a sense of safety upon hearing Chan’s voice and hesitantly opened his eyes. To his astonishment, his best friend was holding off the monstrous beast with only his two hands. It was unreal. He thought he was dreaming, but he wasn't.

Chan growled again and pushed against the demon with enough force to send it flying. "Go now!!"

He was being told to run but his legs were like jelly. As he scrambled to his feet, they just buckled under him, sending him back down to the ground. On top of that, the pain in his ankle was getting worse. He could feel it throbbing. It took him three tries to finally get to his feet and hurriedly limp out of the courtyard and back into the halls of the castle. He wasn't sure where he was going to go, but he was determined to get somewhere safe. Maybe even return to the banquet where everyone else was.

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Chan locked eyes with the beast as soon as it got back to its feet. Both demons stared each other down, and the beast could feel the intense power coming from his opponent. That power was the only reason it was hesitating to attack again.

Chan unsheathed his sword without looking away. His fingers ran across the blade of his weapon and it enlarged itself. Blue flames appeared in a circle around the base of the sword and trailed down to his hand where it covered it like a fiery glove.

“I won’t let you touch the king.” He warned the creature and pointed his sword in its direction.

The beast grew angrier at his words. The mere sight of the blue flames was provoking enough to send it into a fit of rage. It pounded its hands into the ground and charged at Chan.

Chan fastened his grip on his sword and slashed the air in an “X” formation right before the creature got too close. The beast swung its arm but was stopped by Chan’s sword. He held the blade sideways against the palm of the beast’s hand and gritted his teeth as he pushed back.

The beast bared its teeth and growled deeply. It curled its long claws down so one could pierce the flesh of Chan’s chest. Even with armor on, the demon’s nail still cut through his plate like a knife through butter.

Chan ignored the pain and stared the beast down with a fierce gaze.

With a grin, his eyes flashed brightly for an instant and the beast abruptly paused. Something felt a little strange, like its body was going deathly cold.

Blue flames suddenly ignited in an “X” shape across its body. It howled in pain and stumbled back, trying desperately to put out the fire.

Chan lowered his sword and held his hand over the gash on his chest. He panted heavily from the energy spent using his abilities after such a long time.

The beast rolled around in agony. The flames wouldn’t go out no matter how hard it tried to extinguish them.

“He’s over here!”

“Quickly!”

Chan straightened up and turned to see a group of about ten or more soldiers spill into the courtyard with their swords in hand. They formed a semicircle around him and those whose faces weren’t hidden by their helmets wore expression of utter disgust and betrayal.

“General Bang Chan! We’re here to arrest you for conspiring to kill the king!” The lead soldier confronted him.

Chan’s eyes turned red again and a few of the men gasped. This was the worst time for them to appear. They were only going to get in his way.

“It’s dangerous here. You can arrest me later, but for right now—“

“So you were a demon this whole time?!” One solider lashed out without letting him finish.

“A demon? Look at the icefire he wields! Only elves can use use ice magic like that!”

“But his eyes are red! He can’t be an elf, he’s definitely a demon!”

“What are you?”

“Does it matter?! He’s no different than that bear demon over there! He needs to be captured and executed!”

“How could you do this to us Chan?!”

“You were playing us all along, weren’t you?”

Chan had no response for any of their harsh words. He had no time for explanations either. The longer he stayed here the more danger Jeongin’s life was going to be in.

He made a move to leave, but a voice amongst the onslaught of curses beckoned him to stop.

“Wait!”

Chan watched as one solider pushed his way to the front of the crowd and lifted his helmet off his head.

“Don’t move.”

“Woojin—“

“Quiet.” Woojin cut him off and brought the tip of his sword up to Chan’s neck.

“Just Kill him Officer Kim!” A solider shouted, eliciting a medley of aggressive agreements from the others.

“Woojin, listen. I don’t want to hurt you, but I don’t have time to stay and fight everyone! The king is in danger and I need to save him!” Chan grabbed the officer’s sword with his bare hand, and blood immediately dripped down the blade.

Woojin studied Chan closely, then swiftly spun to face the rest of the soldiers. He backed up until he was standing right beside his friend.

“Officer Kim? What do you think you’re doing?”

“He’s on the demon’s side!”

“We’ll have to arrest the both of them then!”

Chan was just as surprised as the other soldiers. “Woojin? What are you doing? You’ll become a criminal if you do this.” He said softly so only the other male could hear him.

Woojin smirked, “I pledged my loyalty to you a long time ago. I follow you and the king and no one else. Do I need to say more?”

Chan chuckled and raised his sword. “Suit yourself then.”

“What are we all standing around for? Let’s arrest them already!” The lead soldier yelled, and the crowd made their advance.

Chan and Woojin were ready, but the soldiers fell short once they spotted the beast pick itself off the ground. Small patches of blue flames were still sticking to its body.

It