As far as Seoyeon could tell, they found themselves amid a forest. Not a polished, well-treated one, rather an overgrown one - where time had spread its wings and flown over it, leaving nothing behind but green leaves kissing the ground and the quiet chirping of a few birds. Above her, the night sky stretched beyond her peripheral vision, and the only light granting them a view of their surroundings was the gigantic full moon, hung upon the sky like a bright, intricate ornament bringing to life the satin of a pitch-black dress. Gigantic water oaks bent over themselves

But at the moment, Seoyeon wasn’t able to sit back and relax at the prospect of the thought that she was getting a step closer to the truth, because her heart was still burning with anguish, and her cheeks burned from the previous—perhaps a bit embarrassing—fit of tears. The truth was she didn’t know what to do with the revelation she had just gotten. 

She whipped around to find Baekhyun looking around curiously like he had caught upon something she hadn’t. ”Dear fellows, I come bearing good news for all of you,” he mumbled. 

Seulgi, who was helping Kyungsoo stand up properly after he too was thrown across the portal, frowned in confusion. ”We’ve just arrived, what do you mean?”

Speaking of which, Seoyeon didn’t think it could get worse for the prince after their conversation back at the palace, but she was proved wrong once she got a proper look at his expression. She had never seen someone looking so void of emotion in her entire life. 

”What I mean red two, is that the portal brought us to the ruins of Ventias.”

”And?”

”And since no one roams here anymore, it’s a good place to hide when the governor of your province is chasing you down.” 

”I still don’t get it,” Chanyeol grumbled, brushing dust off his clothes. 

Baekhyun sighed, nearing a path that led deeper into the forest. ”Me and my wife might’ve been framed, but there are multiple spies and people who have worked with the chief of Dunosa that secretly defy him. We built a safe house in case any of us ever need to hide, and it’s here in the outskirts of Ventias, right by the ocean.”

”Do you know how to get there from here?” Seoyeon asked slightly breathlessly. 

”If we manage to make it out of this forest, I might.” 

In order to get a clear viewpoint to where they were located, Chanyeol offered to climb up to the top of an oak tree and locate the sea. Doing this, the male concluded they were supposed to head northeast, and so they did. 

The air smelled like salt and sea, but even so the night remained still and quiet, giving Seoyeon the unwanted chance to trap herself in her own thoughts.

 It was almost as if she could recall the touch of the warm calloused hand that had pulled her up right after the woman on the wall had spoken to her. Amidst the never ending skyline and mirror-like water surface, a pair of intense yet secure eyes had opened the door to her soul and gazed right into it. Her lungs had felt parched, her breath was missing, but her thoughts only grew louder. 

Perhaps half an hour was spent walking - or three, she couldn’t tell. What broke her out of her thoughts was Baekhyun’s shout in a language she didn’t recognise. 

”*No me digas!”

”What is it, Baekhyun?” Seoyeon heard Chanyeol complain. ”We don’t understand that language of yours.” 

”We’ve reached the sea!” the male announced with a big smile, disappearing behind the last row of trees on sight. ”I think we got really, really lucky. Come on, now! The safe house should only be about half an hour from here. Twenty minutes if you’re fast enough.” 

Upon entering the beach, a silent gasp left her lips at the sight of old archways and pieces of houses scattered around the sea. But most impressive of all was the enormous head of a statue that rested silently on the shore line, slightly coated by the shallow tide of the water. Water plants and vines encircled its carvings; thick eyebrows that connected in the middle, a pair of empty, round eyes followed by a long thin nose and lips. The marble itself was of a greyish color, though at the peak of its time it must’ve been a rich cream. Wherever the rest of the body was, it had to be even bigger, which made Seoyeon wonder just how advanced of a society Ventias had been once in order  to construct an artefact of such magnificence. 

Along the rest of the walk—done for the most part in silence, give or take the distant bickering between Seulgi and Chanyeol—Seoyeon’s gaze couldn’t help but travel to Kyungsoo, who was walking ahead of her. She didn’t have a clear view of his face, but she could only guess it held the same hollow frown from hours ago. For some reason his current state unnerved her greatly, and Seoyeon wasn’t one to just…get concerned. Most of the time the people she encountered could take care of themselves more than well on their own, but something about the way the prince was acting felt…wrong. 

Hadn’t it been for Baekhyun’s shout of happiness, Seoyeon wouldn’t have had any idea that they arrived. The only sight in front of them was a pebble beach and the ocean stretching endlessly beyond the horizon. 

”What do you mean we’ve arrived?” Seulgi spoke exactly what she had been thinking. 

”Do you really think we’d keep the safe house visible for everyone to see? It’s called a hideout for a reason.” Baekhyun raised an amused eyebrow, before taking a few steps back. ”Alright, I’m going to need for point break to stand back a little, you’re kind of stepping on something important.” 

Puzzled, Seoyeon looked down towards her feet, noticing that she in fact was standing in the middle of what looked like a strange type of rock formation, though it was well hidden in the sand, and had Baekhyun not warned her, she wouldn’t have ever noticed them. ”Sorry,” she stepped away quietly. 

”Wait a second,” Seulgi inspected the formation further. It was shaped after a circle of a couple of transparent, sand-like rocks, in which center there laid the same stones in the shape of a star. ”That’s a formation of lucerna maestas. Did you use them to veil the house?” 

”Precisely. If I’m correct the gem can absorb and reflect light at will, but if put in certain formations it can veil entire cities. Only way to unveil it is to find the formation and break it.” 

Which is what he did, carefully plucking one of the gems out from the outer circle. There was a flash of bright light, and before Seoyeon knew it, they were standing before a semi-large wooden cottage. The outside looked worn out and old, making it pretty clear that the house had been through its fair share of storms and stood out the test of time. 

”We can rest here to regain energy for a day or two, but then we have to start heading towards Eriros. Luckily it’s not too far from here.”

(* no me digas is the word for no way or don’t tell me or you’ve got to be kidding in spanish)

************

All in all, take away the uncomfortable crunchy sensation of the sand against the wooden planks of the floor, the horrendous humidity and the inevitable creaking, the cottage was actually pretty nice. It consisted of nine rooms in total excluding the dining hall and living room, which were practically merged into one to make space for a gigantic chest of weapon stash. 

They were all crowded by the dining table, with a small floating flame in the middle—conjured by Chaneyol—to keep them warm. Baekhyun looked quite unnerved at the fact that most of the food was expired - which meant that it had been months since someone was last here, ergo there weren’t many defiers left. After ravaging the canteen for a decently nutritious meal, they all sat down and ate; firstly in solitude, but it didn’t take long for Chanyeol and Seulgi to yet again dive in another discussion about which food culture of each province was better. With the tail of her eye, Seoyeon swore she could catch a glimpse of Kyungsoo picking up a silver dagger from the weapon stash, admiring it with an unreadable expression. Something was wrong. 

It wasn’t until well over half an hour later than Chanyeol pointed it out. ”Guys, where’s Kyungsoo?”

They all turned to look left and right, only to discover that he was nowhere to be seen. 

”Was he even at the dining table with us?” Seulgi asked. 

”I’m sure of it, yeah.” Baekhyun replied. ”He must’ve left a while ago. Maybe he needed some rest.” 

”Seoyeon,” Seulgi turned to her. ”Kyungsoo looks really unwell, and I imagine it must be because of the state of the palace but…is there something else that happened?”

It could have been because her thoughts were running wild, but Seoyeon found herself shortly caving in. ”There…there is something I have kept hidden from him, and I told him about it in the palace.” 

”Well,” Baekhyun raised an eyebrow. ”What did you tell him?”

”I..” she trailed off, suddenly feeling completely locked. They wouldn’t come out. The words wouldn’t come out. She had barely been ready to tell Kyungsoo himself, what possessed her to think she was ready to tell them? ”Never mind, I’ll go look for him,” was what she said instead, and sprinted off towards the chamber corridor. 

Everything about the situation felt extremely off, and somehow strange too. It was strange, because Seoyeon couldn’t understand why she was so concerned about him in the first place, why she was so affected by the prince’s peculiar behavior. But may the Gods have mercy, she could feel herself freak out more and more with every door she kicked open, only to find that he wasn’t in his room. Or any other room for that matter. 

Her last option was to look outside, and at that point her heart was beating in her ears and her breathing was oddly hitching. 

But alas, there she found him; sitting on a collapsed pillar, gazing out towards the full moon and the cold reflection it was casting on the rippling waves. His left hand was holding the dagger she had seen him grab previously, and the male soon raised it towards the sky, inspecting it like it was a jewel of fine quality. The moonlight painted its silver blade like small luminescent rays of sun in an ocean of argent, but there was nothing good about the expression of his face as he looked at it.