“So what is our plan?” Eunhyuk asked as they saddled up their horses once more after a night of rest at the small ruins. The rain had stopped and the sun was already hanging above the horizon. Siwon riffled through his bag, pulling out a rolled up piece of parchment, opening it up and lying it flat on the ground.

“Here, come take a look at this. I got it from the vaults a few months ago.” Siwon instructed, waitng for Eunhyuk to come over before moving aside to allow Eunhyuk a better view, “This is a map of the lands, and it’s one of the only remaining maps of these lands that’s left.

“You stole it?” Eunhyuk balked.

Siwon’s eyes went wide, eyebrows shooting up his forehead, “No, no, no,” he assured, “ One of the old priests gave it to me since I had expressed curiosity, I swear. Still, even I had, it makes no difference now.” He frowned.

“So you’ve been preparing to run for a while now haven’t you?”

Siwon shook his head, “I thought it could go either way, it would have been foolish to leave everything to chance. To be honest, I had been hoping it would never have come to this…” he cleared his throat, “Never mind, as you can see, this land is a peninsula, its land stretches over both kingdoms borders. All we have to do, is travel straight through. We’re somewhere in this general vicinity.” He began, pointing to where the bridge met land once more, “and we have to get here.” He continued, running his finger in a diagonal line to where the peninsula met land. “From there we just follow the land up and into the country.”

“Sounds simple enough I suppose.” Eunhyuk frowned.

“It will be fine.” Siwon assured as he rolled the map back up and tucked it safely away. “we don’t have to go near the bridge again, and I highly doubt anyone will be coming in after us.” Siwon remarked as he pulled himself up onto his horse.

Eunhyuk snorted as he mounted his horse, “What gave you that idea? Anyone who comes in these lands is considered dead.” He snapped as they took off at a gallop. It wasn’t until they broke from the forest and came upon a large meadow that seemed to stretch endlessly on, that they pulled their horses into a leisurely walk. Large cliffs towered over them, lining the meadows as trees, hills, and rich vegetation speckled the lands. “This place is beautiful; It’s difficult to think of it as cursed.” Eunhyuk remarked as he let his gaze wander around, taking in the majestic scenery. Siwon nodded, spotting a few deer grazing at the edge of the woods as birds flew overhead.

“It is.” He agreed, taking in the silence of the land, although birds sang their songs above them, it all seemed rather eerie.

“Hey, Siwon, if this land is as pretty as this, and so fertile, why was it sealed off? I know the stories of the colossus being creatures of stone and flesh, but is that the only reason?”

“No, it’s not,” he chuckled, “I forget sometimes that you’re family moved here after the Great War. My great grandfather served in that war.” He took a deep breath, “A long time ago there existed a race of people who had the power to give life to their statues. They called themselves “Guardians”, and their creatures ,“Colossi”. For a time our three countries existed in peace, but the guardians ended that peace. On the word of their deity, they plotted a war, intent on wiping out our countries. This deity, was truly demonic, for although their god gave them the power to create the colossi, their souls had to be split. So, our countries united against the Guardians and took their land by storm. At the end of the war the land was sealed away, it is said this was done because of Guardians’ curse: That all those who came to this land would be met with a fate worse than death. That to walk these lands was to forfeit one’s own life.”

“So…everyone was killed? Women, children?” Eunhyuk questioned.

Siwon sighed sadly, “No one wanted to do it, but their God was twisted and sick, granting people those powers…it corrupted them, and no one wanted to see innocent women and their children be subjected to that. Their line had to end, or it would have meant the end to all of us.” Siwon reasoned.

“It still seems so sad. All that death.”

“It is sad, no one disputes that, but they were a cursed race themselves.”  They continued on in silence for sometime before Eunhyuk stopped his horse.

‘What is it?” Siwon asked, pulling his horse up beside Eunhyuk.

“There, over there,” Eunhyuk directed, pointing off down the hill, “Do you see that?” he asked.

“What are those?” Siwon asked, squinting his eyes to try and get a better look, a hand covering his eyes to block the sun.

“I don’t know…should we check it out?” Eunhyuk asked. Siwon sighed as he shrugged, pulling his horse to face the direction.

“We may as well.” He agreed moving down the hill until they stood at the skeletal remains of a wooden structure. Upon closer inspection, pulling away the vines and weeds that grew through and around the structure, Eunhyuk gasped.

“They’re catapults.” The wood was rotting, and most of the structures had long since been destroyed and rotted away, but a few could still be identified.

“But why would they put them at the base of a hill?” Siwon asked, brows furrowing as he frowned in contemplation. It didn’t make any strategic sense.

“Because that’s no hill.” Eunhyuk stammered, making Siwon pause, turning back to face the way they’d come. A pool of cold dread washing over him to settle in his stomach as the organ seemed to flip inside his body. What they had thought was a hill, was another large statue, only this one was much larger, the statues body splayed across the ground. The land had healed over much of the land from the statues fall, but a few cracks, spreading out like thin spidery tendrils, could still be seem from around the massive structures arm, extended out towards the catapults.

“It’s a colossus.” Siwon breathed, eyes wide, his face draining of color.

 Eunhyuk fell silent as they continued to investigate the large colossus, several large gouges could be seem on the creatures body, a testament to the catapults success. However, their investigation also turned up pieces of armor, a testament that this massive beast hadn’t gone down alone.

“So what do we do now? Those things could still be here.” Eunhyuk stammered, body shaking in his saddle as they continued on their journey, leaving the colossus behind as clouds began to gather in the sky.

Siwon swallowed back the lump in his throat, shaking his head, “No, no we’re staying. It’s been a hundred years. Even if there are some lingering, we’ll just do our best to avoid them. We’re not going far into the land. We’ll be fine.” Siwon assured as he took a deep shuddering breath.

“But if the guardian—“

“They were wiped out.” Siwon interjected, cutting Eunhyuk off.

Eunhyuk sighed, “I’ve heard the stories of what these colossi could do, and it’s terrifying.”

“Which is why we’ll proceed with caution, but I’m telling you, they’ve been wiped out.” Siwon assured as the distant rumble of thunder echoed over the land, urging their horses on faster as they sought shelter from the impending storm. “There!” Siwon called as he spotted a large temple like structure carved into one of the nearby cliffs as the downpour began.

They were soaking wet by the time they managed to reach the structure, but actually getting inside of it proved difficult as they were forced to wander the cliffs edge to find the way in, not bothering to take in the sight as they got out of the storm. Siwon’s horse came to a sudden halt, ears lying flat against its head as its nose flared. With a cry the horse pulled back, edging away from the sanctuary they’d entered. Eunhyuk’s horse was behaving no better, rearing up with a loud whinny as it skirted back. Eunhyuk cursed as he struggled to get his horse back under control, dismounting as soon as the horse had settled down a bit.

“Something maybe here..get your weapon ready.” Siwon cautioned as he secured his horse, drawing his sword. Eunhyuk nodded as he drew his bow and knocked an arrow from his quiver. The temple was silent, a cool breeze  blew through the building. Cautiously, Eunhyuk and Siwon explored the desolate temple, despite years of no management, the structure was in remarkable shape, many of the stone pillars carved from the very cliff it was ingrained in, were still fully formed. As they made their way down a wide hall, they stopped, “Is that…” Eunhyuk began, stunned as the soft glow cast shadows along the wall.

Siwon nodded grimly, “A light…there’s a fire going. Be on guard.” Siwon urged.

“I think we should leave, find somewhere else.” Eunhyuk whispered, eyes darting around the dark hall.

“We will in a moment, let’s see if there’s someone responsible for this first…we may not the first people to seek sanctuary on these lands.” Siwon noted.

“Fine, but then we leave.” Eunhyuk snapped, tongue darting out to wet his lips as they searched for a way to get to the source. The steps leading up towards the room where the fire was burning were gone, so it was with great reluctance, that both Siwon and Eunhyuk put their weapons away to scale the ledge. Siwon made it up first, before giving aide to Eunhyuk as he scrabbled at the top of the ledge, trying to pull himself up. To their shock there were three fires burning. Two fires, one on each side of the alter room, sat atop two large square posts. The third, and largest flame, was placed on top of a large stone tomb in the place of an alter; situated in the front of the room, right by a large opening that let in the wind. They moved down the stone steps slowly, redrawing their weapons as they spread out around the room.

Siwon moved slowly, eyes roving over the room, taking in everything, looking for any slight movement, ears straining for any sound, but all he could hear was the storm outside, the whistling of the wind, and the crackling of the fires. He paused, eyes narrowing as he caught sight of furs stretched out at the base of the tomb. He bent down, a hand reaching out to clutch the furs as he dragged them closer, “I don’t believe it..” he whispered shooting up, ready to call out to Eunhyuk when a flash of two blue glowing eyes shone out from the darkness of a perch high above them. “Eunhyuk, above you!” he screamed, his friend tensing as he whipped around, an arrow at the ready, as whatever it was moved. Heavy footfalls could be heard above them as something erupted from the shadows above them and fell into the alter room.

It resembled an armored tiger, with two long, sharp stone tusks protruding from its cheeks. Its head shot around, pin pointing the intruders before it seemed to make up its mind and charge Siwon. He didn’t have time to think as he sprinted towards the archway where the flames perch stood, ducking into the crevice between it and the wall. The wall shook, bits of dust and dirt falling down as the beast made impact. With a loud growl it backed away, shaking its head before shooting a claw into the crevice. With a curse, Siwon ducked back as close to the wall as he could, trying to squeeze behind the large post.
There was a loud snarl as the beast whipped around, an arrow skittering over the ground as it bounced off the colossi’s stone leg harmlessly. Eunhyuk cursed as the colossi changed it’s target. “I thought you said they were gone!” he roared as he ducked into another archway.

“I thought they were…is now really the time?!” he screamed back, mind racing as he tried to come up with a way to get out of this situation. Cursing once more as the colossi stuck its massive paw back into the crevice, sending him shooting back, pressing as close to the wall as he could.

Eunhyuk stared at the scene in horror, as the colossi went back to Siwon’s hiding location. He slid his bow back over his shoulder. He couldn’t get a good angle from here…maybe if he had a higher vantage point, he could find some opening on the beast. It wasn’t until he stood upon the top, mindful of the roaring flame beside him, that he fired another arrow. Catching the colossi’s attention once more, before he could draw another arrow the beast came barreling towards him, slamming head first into the post where he stood making the very thing shake, with a cry he fell back, landing on his back. His eyes went wide as the wind was knocked from him, rolling onto his side he watched as the beast shot away from a burning torch that lay on the ground, knocked from the flames with its impact. “That’s it.” He wheezed. Standing up on shaking legs, a hand holding onto the wall for stability, he cried out as long as he could. “Siwon! Distract him! I have an idea!” Ducking back as the colossi swooped back.

Siwon took a deep breath before he darted out from his enclosure, he whistled, “Hey colossi!” he yelled, with a roar, the colossi’s gaze shot back on him, its eyes fixing back on Siwon as it raced towards him. Siwon barely had time to duck and roll, evading the beasts head as he sprang back onto his feet. “Anytime would be nice Eunhyuk!” he roared as he raced back to avoid a swipe.

So engrossed in their battle, they never saw the figure looming in the shadows from where the colossi first appeared. Clinging to a pillar, the figure peered around the stone pillar, eyes narrowing as it honed in on the platinum blonde darting towards the still burning torch. /Get him!/ it thought viciously.

Down below, the colossi immediately turned its gaze back towards Eunhyuk, ignoring Siwon completely. “Hey!” Siwon called, taking a swipe with his sword at the colossi’s tail. It gave a growl, but continued on, paw clawing at the ground, head lowering as it prepared to charge. “Eunhyuk!” Siwon cried out in warning. As the beast was almost upon him, Eunhyuk shot around, waving the torch in front of him, with a cry the colossi reared back. Eunhyuk panted, eyes wide as he took a short lunge forward, the colossi stepped back.

“Come on Siwon!” Eunhyuk called, keeping the colossi at bay as his friend raced back, he continued his own slow retreat back as the colossi crept closer, cautious of the flame. Eunhyuk chanced a glance back in time to see Siwon get back on the ledge.

“Eunhyuk, on the count of three you need to throw that torch and get over here. I’ll pull you up!” Siwon called.

“Got it.” Eunhyuk called as Siwon began to count.

“One”. Eunhyuk lunged forward, waving the torch in front of him.

“Two”. The colossi leapt back with a cry.

“Three!” SIwon bellowed as Eunhyuk threw the torch towards the colossi and raced, as fast as he could towards the wall, jumping up to catch Siwon’s hand as his friend pulled him up, together they raced back through the temple, the angry roar of the colossi echoing after them. Tearing their horses free, Siwon and Eunhyuk raced off into the storming night. Behind them they could hear the colossi roar once more. Chancing a glance over his shoulder, Eunhyuk spotted the beast racing after them.

“Siwon, he’s gaining on us!” Eunhyuk bellowed, taking a chance to fire an arrow back. The colossi slowed for nothing, their horses’ hooves clattering over stone as they ran along the outskirts of a cliff, trying to keep ahead of the colossi. With a scream, Siwon’s horse skidded to a halt as the colossi fell in stride with the horse before cutting it off. It all happened so fast, the colossi pawed the ground once, and then it sprang. In a flash of tusks and claws, with one powerful swipe; Eunhyuk, was gone. With a piercing shriek, he and his horse were thrown from the cliff to fall to their deaths. There was nothing Siwon could do as the colossi rounded onto him, its massive paw already raised, claws gleaming against the lightning. There was a scream as blood sprayed across the wet ground, his horse falling back, throwing him from the saddle. Three large gashes cutting across his steeds stomach, entrails falling from its gaping wounds as it fell to the ground, body twitching. Siwon had barely made it to his feet before he was slammed back down once more, the world spinning around him, but all he could register was the pain. With a cry he was slammed back, bones cracking as the colossi’s paw shot out towards him.

His vision swam, black spots dancing in his sight as he began seeing double, the world around him fading in and out of focus as he pushed himself to his knees, throwing up. The colossi watched, circling tightly around him, waiting for him. /he wants me to move/ Siwon thought in realization before the world faded away to nothing as he fell to the ground. The colossi roared, a paw coming up once more, ready to end it, but with a shrill cry, something slammed against it, shoving it away.

The colossi roared as it turned to face it’s attacker, shrinking back under his attacker’s towering size. “Go back Celosia!” a voice bellowed from atop the new, horse-like colossi. Slowly, the horse-like colossi knelt onto the ground, the person seating atop of it sliding down. “Go on! Go back! Get out of here!” the young man snarled. Celosia growled.

“Why on Earth.” A new voice interjected, “Would you send Celosia away?”

“Heechul.” The young man greeted curtly, watching as Heechul’s figure emerged from the shadows, features illuminated from the flash of lightning. His long brown hair was soaking wet, clothes clinging to his body, but he met the young man’s angry gaze with his own. A sneer on his lips as he flicked his gaze onto the unconscious, injured mans form.

“This isn’t your territory anymore.” The young man stated, squaring his jaw as he straightened his posture, raising his head up.
“You do know what that is don’t you?” Heechul spat, eyes narrowing back at the unconscious figure.
“I do, but again: This isn’t your territory. I don’t want to fight with you, but what I do with him is up to me. Isn’t it enough that you’ve killed his friend?” The young man challenged.

“No. You’re a bleeding heart Henry…What? You’re going to nurse him back to health and let him go? If you do that it’s a death sentence for all of us.” Heechul snarled.

“I don’t know what I’ll do, but regardless of what I decide, it’s not up to you.” The young man repeated. “You know I respect you,”

Heechul snorted, “funny way of showing it, having Phaedra attack Celosia.”

Henry ignored the comment as he continued, “but this isn’t your territory.”

Heechul sneered as Celosia came up beside him. “Fine…but the second he leaves your land, know he’s a marked man. The others won’t take to hearing of an outsider. Especially one from those lands.” Heechul cautioned as he pulled himself up Celosia’s back, and without another word, and a final sneer at the injured man, the pair vanished, form swallowed up by the asive darkness around them, leaving Henry and his colossi alone with a man, who was very likely, beyond all chance of saving.