Usually by horse it would take someone half an hour to reach the beginning of the forest. Their castle was located on one end of the forest and everything else was located on the other side. It made for great privacy, but it was terrible when it came to actually having to travel. 

 

It had taken Baekhyun almost two hours to reach the beginning of the forest on foot, and he was not pleased to have to go this way. Trees were already losing their leaves, so at least he was able to see more easily through everything, but that also meant the wind would be harsher because not as many leaves were there to act as a windbreaker.

 

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Baekhyun asked as he shrugged his shoulders. “Well...on I go…” Before he walked in, he took one last glance back and saw a few soldiers had been sent to follow slightly behind him to ensure he would actually leave. “Pft! They can’t even trust me to go this far,” he scoffed to himself before he turned back and started to enter the forest.

 

Right away he noticed how muddy the ground was and was glad he had worn his boots. The conditions made it more difficult to walk and turned all the rocks and fallen leaves into slipping hazards. 

 

Casually making his way along in silence, in order to avoid a large muddy puddles of water, Baekhyun moved off to the side and started walking through the fallen leaves and sticks. He placed his hands against some of the trees in order to keep his balance, making it a goal of his not to fall over and get soaked and dirty. 

 

It was working well until there was a sudden tightness around his right ankle, and a harsh tug. A sharp cry left his lips as he was hauled upward and dangled upside down, his entire body weight dangling from his ankle. The rope swayed him back and forth as he cried out in shock, trying to use his hands to prevent himself from being violently swung into a tree trunk.

 

“What the-! Help! Someone help me!” Baekhyun shouted desperately. Right away he started trying to reach up and loosen the noose, but just as quickly realized he could not reach his ankle. He went limp again and continued to slightly swing as he looked at the world from a new and unwanted perspective. “Is anyone there!?”

 

There was a snap of branches around him and suddenly a deep voice came from behind him. “Well...look what we have here lads,” the deep voice snided. “Looks like instead of catching an animal, we caught ourselves a boy!”

 

“Looks like a fancy boy too judging from his clothes,” another man spoke up. 

 

“Royalty maybe?” a third asked. “Look at the detailing on the cloak! That’d fetch us enough money for some decent food and lodging!”

 

They all started coming in closer to him, and Baekhyun immediately regretted shouting for help. One man grabbed onto his hood and yanked it away from his face. Baekhyun closed his eyes right away and tried to shrink away. His body was already shaking in fright and he thought his ankle was going to snap in half.

 

“Hey...doesn’t he look familiar?” the man holding his hood asked.

 

The other men tilted their heads to try and see a resemblance to anyone, but were having difficulties.

 

“We need to cut him down to tell,” another man stated.

 

Baekhyun then felt a pair of hands on both of his arms. He tried to shake them off, but they were holding on too tightly. He only opened his eyes when he felt the rope around his ankle being tugged at. When he did, he saw a man sawing away at the rope with a knife. Just when he was about to tell the man to stop, the rope snapped, and his legs fell down. His lower back and legs slammed into the ground before he was released by the other men.

 

Having the wind practically knocked out of him, Baekhyun rolled over onto his side and started coughing. It was not long, however, before one of the men gave him a kick in the stomach to land him flat on his back. A shadow loomed over Baekhyun’s face as the man then crouched over him and grabbed the front of his cloak. 

 

“How rude to not even thank your saviors!” the man shouted in his face. “Where are your manners?”

 

“P-please...please…” Baekhyun stuttered as he closed his eyes again.

 

“What are you saying please for!?” the man asked as he hauled Baekhyun higher off the ground. 

 

“Please...l-let me g-go…” Baekhyun managed to get out.

 

With a bark of laughter the man released him and his back slammed back into the ground again. 

 

“You know who he reminds me of?” another man standing off to the side asked. “That young prince! What’s his name? It begins with a B doesn’t it?” He snapped his fingers a few times as he thought and rubbed his forehead.

 

There was murmuring between the men before one of them shouted, “Prince Baekhyun!”

 

“Yes! Prince Baekhyun! It’s him!” the man shouted. “I’m sure of it!” 

 

The man crouching over him leaned down even closer to him now. Reaching down, he grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked his head up to get a clearer look at him.

 

“Ack!” Baekhyun gasped, wincing in pain as his hair was yanked and his head was pulled back at an awkward angle.

 

Using his other hand, the man pulled at Baekhyun’s cloak, and smirked. On the buttons on his cloak, was the family crest. His eyes widened in realization and joy.

 

“It’s him,” the man stated confidently. “We have ourselves...a prince, lads. Get the rope!”

 

“Please! Please, l-let me g-go!” Baekhyun cried desperately. Now he started to fight more by kicking his legs and trying to push the man away from him. 

 

Before he knew it, he was being flipped onto his stomach, his face pressed against the wet earth, and his arms were pulled behind his back and tied tightly in place. He also felt as his legs were being held down, and a rope was being tied around his ankles to prevent him from kicking. 

 

“Please! Let me go!” Baekhyun shouted again. “Ple-!”

 

His plea was cut off when a gag was shoved in his mouth and tied behind his head. He was completely helpless now and could not even scream for help. 

 

“There we go,” one of the men said while dusting his hands off. “Now...what can we do with him?”

 

“Sell him off?” another genuinely asked. “Do you know how much people would pay for a night with a prince? We could keep him at a brothel and hold him there until we post ransom.”

 

“He’s probably a . Just look at him,” another snided. “We could get three high payments, if you know what I mean.”

 

“What woman would want to take him?” chuckled one of the men. “I'd feel sorry for her.”

 

“With young lads and their tastes, maybe one of them would pay a high coin to ride him,” the first man pointed out. “Either way, imagine how much we could charge for him.”

 

“I’m more curious who’d pay to have him!” hollered one of the men who burst out laughing so hard he nearly had tears in his eyes. 

 

A hand reached down and Baekhyun’s hair. “Our poor little prince would be ruined after one night,” he said in a tender voice. “Ha! I’d pay to watch him struggle!” Standing back up, he gave Baekhyun another kick.

 

Now Baekhyun started struggling and shaking his head. His entire body was shaking even worse now as his face rested against the leaves. He felt like he could cry at any moment, but held himself back to try and seem tougher. There was no way he could let these men sell him off to a brothel!

 

“Let’s get him to the wagon,” one of the men said. “Someone grab his legs, I’ll get his top half.”

 

Baekhyun felt himself getting hauled off the ground and, for a change, stopped struggling. The last thing he wanted was to get dropped, and knowing his luck smack his head against a rock or log and be unconscious to allow these thugs to do whatever they wanted. 

 

His hood was pulled back up over his head and far enough down that it covered his eyes. 

 

‘This is it...I didn’t even make it a day and it’s over,’ Baekhyun said to himself. ‘Now I’m going to be sold off for the rest of my life? My family would never pay a ransom for me!’

 

Just as he said that to himself, he heard a slight buzz sound that flew past his ear, a grunt, and a damp thump of what he could only imagine was a body hitting the ground. Not knowing what was going on, he tried to shake the hood off his head. There were five more buzzing sounds around him that seemed to happen all at once, five more grunts, and five thumps followed shortly after. In the process, he was dropped onto the ground, and thankfully did not hit his head against anything. But now he was laying there, completely defenseless, with some unknown person who had just taken down six large, full grown, men. 

 

The sound of crunching leaves and snapping twigs filled his ears as some unknown figure strode towards him. In a panic, he tried moving away from the sound, but he could not move well in his current predicament. When the footsteps stopped, he froze where he was, waiting to see what would happen. A hand then landed on his calf and made him scream behind his gag. There was pulling at the restraint around his ankles, and then the rope went slack. Baekhyun’s first instinct was to kick his legs. When he did, he was pleased to feel something soft against his leg and the small ‘umph’ he heard from this stranger.

 

“Ouch! Will you let me ing help you!?” the stranger shouted in annoyance.

 

Baekhyun looked from under his hood and could see a hand holding a knife. That made him freeze up for fear of angering this man and getting cut or stabbed. Was he another bandit who was going to threaten and kidnap him to get ransom? 

 

The man moved behind him and started cutting through the rope around his wrists as well. When that rope went slack, Baekhyun bolted away from whoever it was that had set him free, yanked the gag from his mouth, and pulled the hood down from his head so he could actually see.

 

In front of him was another male, around the same age as him, but he did not have time to get a good look at him because he instantly moved his eyes down to the ground. All he had managed to get from his quick glance at the stranger was that he had very vibrant, fiery red hair, and was wearing traveling clothes consisting of a dark green cloak, a tan shirt, and brown pants. There were also different pouches tied around his belt holding who knows what. Baekhyun pulled his legs up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. He felt his palms sweating in his gloves and his neck sweating under his scarf, simply because of this one person who was still staring at him.

 

Even when Baekhyun heard the stranger get up, he refused to move. 

 

“Here, let me help you get up,” the stranger said to him. “The fall you took must have been hard and you should make sure you’re alright.”

 

Baekhyun shook his head and stayed right where he was, looking down at the ground. 

 

“Come on, we need to make sure you’re not injured. You took a heavy fall when they dropped you,” the man told him again. 

 

“You can go. I don’t need help,” Baekhyun practically mumbled.

 

“Don’t be like that.” The man reached down and tried to grab Baekhyun’s hand, but was swatted away as if the young man in front of him was a cat instead.

 

“I said, go away…” Baekhyun told him with not a lot of conviction. 

 

“Wow...someone’s not too grateful…”

 

“Not for nosey strangers,” Baekhyun snapped back under his breath.

 

“Hey!” Getting agitated at his attitude, he grabbed Baekhyun’s arm and yanked him up as hard as he could. “Will you grow up and cooperate!?”

 

Baekhyun pulled his arm free and collapsed back onto the ground before shouting, “I have anthropophobia!”

 

“What…?” the stranger asked, clearly confused not only at the outburst but also the word just used. 

 

“I don’t do well with people or contact!” Baekhyun blurted out.

 

Sighing and running a hand through his red hair the male crouched down and quietly stayed there. “Alright. I can respect that. So let's start slow and...maybe we can remedy this…” He held out his hand but was not shocked when the other male did not look up and kept his hands to himself. “I’m Chanyeol…” Things stayed quiet and Chanyeol lowered his hand. “I’m a wizard…” Everything still remained silent between them. 

 

Just when Chanyeol thought it was a pointless cause for this other male to talk to him, he heard a small mutter. “I’m Baekhyun...thank you...for saving me…”

 

“You’re welcome, Baekhyun” Chanyeol replied with a nod of his head.

 

Chanyeol got up again and held his hand out to Baekhyun once more. This time, he looked up, looking through his bangs, and stretched out his arm so he could grab Chanyeol’s hand. The wizard assisted in pulling him up onto his feet, doing it with ease.

 

As soon as Baekhyun was steady on his feet, a large gust of wind surrounded them and Baekhyun felt a shock on his right hand. He was stunned by the sudden feeling and looked back at Chanyeol to see him pulling at one of his fingers.

 

“No, no, no! You have to be kidding me!” Chanyeol grunted in frustration while throwing his hand down to his side and clenching it into a fist.

 

Baekhyun got a glance at something silver on Chanyeol’s finger and decided to pull off his glove and take a look at his hand which he had felt a shock on. To his surprise he saw a silver ring on his finger as well.

 

“C-Chanyeol...what is this?” Baekhyun asked nervously as he twisted the ring on his finger, giving it an experimental pull only to find it was not going to be moving any time soon.

 

“We might want to sit...it’s a bit of a story,” Chanyeol explained. “I understand it might not be ideal for you to sit with someone you just met...but you don’t really have a choice in this matter.”

 

Looking around and spotting a downed log nearby, he motioned to it and let Baekhyun take a seat. Since Baekhyun said he had trouble with people, he chose to stay standing.

 

“I said I was a wizard not too long ago. Right?” Chanyeol asked.

 

“Right…” Baekhyun replied, keeping his answer short and trying to keep his voice steady. Slowly, he pulled his glove back on and stared at the ground between his feet.

 

“These rings have something to do with me being a wizard,” Chanyeol explained. “My family...generations and generations ago...were terrible people. I mean this in the worst way possible...most times I don't even like thinking of them as family.”

 

‘I can relate to that on some level,’ Baekhyun thought to himself. 

 

“For all the terrible things they did, there was a curse placed on them by a more powerful wizard...someone who worked for a royal family or something like that. But this curse not only affected my ancestors...but also the rest of the family for generations to come. It was made so when we do something kind towards someone...this ring appears and stays on us until we help them complete a task they are out to accomplish. It’s meant to force a rotten family like mine to follow through with good deeds and help others instead of doing terrible things and causing chaos...or something like that.”

 

Baekhyun felt the bump of the ring under his glove and cocked his head to the side. “Then why did it only appear after you helped me up and not when you killed those men?” Baekhyun questioned. 

 

“Oh, they’re not dead...they’re simply paralyzed…” Chanyeol explained as simply as he could. “They should be awake and moving by the time the sun starts to set…”

 

Baekhyun was startled and found he could not look at Chanyeol at the moment, so he kept his head down again. “So when you...paralyzed them...why didn't the rings appear then?” Baekhyun questioned.

 

“I wish I could give you an answer,” Chanyeol said with a sigh. “I have no idea how this curse decides what it wants to do. It just kind of happens. What I do know is that once one ring appears, even if I help someone else...another won't appear for them.”

 

“That means...you’re tied down to me in a way? Because you said something about having to help me accomplish what I need to get done?” Baekhyun asked, trying to get everything straight.

 

“You listen well,” Chanyeol noted to himself. “So what is this journey, quest, mission, thing that you're on?”

 

Baekhyun grew quiet again and shook his head. His chest was feeling tight and his head was starting to spin. Just the thought of having to explain his situation to this nearly stranger was having a negative effect on his anthropophobia.

 

“Okay, okay. We can talk about it later when you feel ready,” Chanyeol told him calmly. “Now, we really should get going so we are far away when my spell wears off on these good-for-nothing bandits.”

 

Glancing back over at the dead-looking bodies, Baekhyun shuffled his feet farther away from them. Although there was still time before the spell would wear off like Chanyeol said, he was scared and nervous that for some reason it would wear off sooner.

 

The two of them walked together in silence for the most part of their journey that afternoon. When the sun started setting, Chanyeol forced them to stop for the night so they could begin setting up a camp and getting dinner ready. That was when Chanyeol quickly realized just how inexperienced Baekhyun was at traveling and anything nature involved really.

 

Chanyeol had given Baekhyun the task of gathering kindling for the fire, but he had come back with wet kindling which would do nothing but hinder their efforts. When he had then asked Baekhyun to catch some fish, he turned around to find him actually kneeling in the water trying to catch the fish between his hands.

 

In the end, Baekhyun ended up sitting off to the side and watching Chanyeol light the fire and catch the fish.

 

“Why didn't you use your powers to light the fire and catch dinner?” Baekhyun finally questioned after it had been on his mind for quite some time.

 

“My powers can be a bit...unpredictable at times if it's not something I'm accustomed to doing,” Chanyeol explained while turning the fish over the open fire. “If I were to try and