Jonghyun had made it back to the village safely. He didn’t know how long it had taken him though, he was quite sure that he was about to pass out. A lot had happened and there hadn’t been any time to progress any of it. The young male sat down near his own house, on the edge of the village.

Jonghyun had been happy when he had reached the plains, but there was also a very ominous feeling that wouldn’t leave him. He was unsure whom he should talk to, the youngster was quite sure that any person would call him mad for even assuming he had met a maiden.

One of the elders came rushing over to the new hunter. The older man sat down and seemed to be quite surprised with what Jonghyun had brought back. “You must have had a successful hunt?” the man assumed. Much to Jonghyun’s dismay, it wasn’t his victory.
“It was given to me.” He stated clearly so the elder would understand. The greying man didn’t quite believe that.

“Nonsense, no one lives in the forest.” Jonghyun’s dark brown eyes shifted up to meet the other’s graze. He was quite sure that ‘Key’ had been very real, but he defiantly wasn’t human, at all.
“It was a maiden” the younger one murmured under his breath. There was a short moment of silence, as if the older had to think about his words very wisely.

“But maidens don’t kill things Jonghyun...” Of course any kind of knowledge about the maidens came from the only source available, folk tales. They stated that maidens were supposed to be pure, caring and very dull in Jonghyun’s opinion. Key didn’t quite match any of those criteria.

The impression that was left by the creature on the young hunter had been much more vibrant than the tales had prepared him for. The thing was that he hadn’t expected Key to kill anything, but then again a man’s got to eat.
“Well they have to eat as well, he must have felt sorry for me, so he gave me his prey.” The male confessed. He knew very well that learning to hunt took a great amount of time and effort.  The elder didn’t seem to be disappointed that Jonghyun didn’t catch the deer himself.
“Well don’t let the gift go to waste then, but if the ‘maiden’ you speak of is a he and if he killed the deer, well he might not be a maiden.”
The older man was very honest with the younger male. It made Jonghyun think, but he agreed that it would be a terrible waste to not eat the deer.
“Well boy, bring that deer to your mother so she can cook you some food.” The elder shooed Jonghyun, mostly to get him out of his head. There were too many thoughts that went through his head.

His parents lived in the north of the village, but not near the edge like Jonghyun. Their ‘house’ was bigger than his own was. It was only natural since they were older. He didn’t know whether his father would be home yet, he assumed not, mostly because his father was a fisherman, who went fishing after nightfall in hope of a better catch.
With the deer over his shoulder, he knocked on the wooden door. A small woman opened with a bright smile. She was cheerful and supportive. The woman noticed that her son was a tad down. “Ok Jong, sit down I’ll prepare that deer of yours” she didn’t ask him any hard questions. Somehow the rest that was offered was all Jonghyun needed that night. His mother prepared some of the deer for the two of them and saved the rest in salt for a later occasion.

Later that night Jonghyun walked back to his own house. He looked up to the sky every now and then. The stars were bright and since most of the villagers were already asleep, there wasn’t any other light that disturbed his ability to watch the stars. With a small sigh he entered his house.

The words Key had uttered were still haunting him. It made the male wonder why the forest wasn’t a place for him to be in at night. What could be so dangerous for him but not for Key. The doubts the elder had were also going through his head. Key didn’t meet any of the criteria of being a maiden, apart from being breathtaking. He knew that the others in the village would advise him not to even try to get into contact with Key again, but Jonghyun felt that Key’s very last words explained it all.

“Only if the Will-o-wisps want me to huh” he muttered to himself as he let himself fall on his bed. It was comfortable, but was unable to bring him rest. Jonghyun knew very well what will-o-wisps were, hence, he knew he shouldn’t follow them at all. They could mean a certain death, but the real question was whether Key was worth taking the risk for.  The young male rolled over and kept tossing until sleep finally came to him.

For some reason Jonghyun slept through the day, the moment he woke up, the night had already fallen. He wasn’t hungry at all for some reason. Without thinking too much he got out of bed and got dressed in his every day clothing. The male knew that he had to eat so a simple piece of fruit was enough. Once he had finished his ‘meal’ he dragged himself outside. A yawn escaped him as he rubbed his eyes. Jonghyun had to get used to the dark a little, but once his eyes settled, he spotted a faint blue light on the other side of the plain.

The young male didn’t even think, he grabbed his bow and sprinted off to meet the little light on the other side. Even though Jonghyun wasn’t very tall, his stamina didn’t lack one bit. It was easy for him to reach the light without losing his breath. As the hunter approached the small flowing light, he tried to touch it, but it disappeared a split second before his hand would have touched the thing.
It wasn’t unexpected but it still startled Jonghyun a little. Another small light appeared, out of instinct Jonghyun just followed it. Every time he got close, one would disappear and another would pop up out of the dark.

Jonghyun continued to follow the light, which he identified as the will-o-wisps, for a great while. He noticed that he was heading North West, which was a different direction than the day before. After what seemed like an eternity, he found himself standing on the edge of a small lake. The trail of lights seemed to end on the other side.

A spark of curiosity struck the young male, he knew this could either end well, or very bad. He wasted no time and got moving, with every step taken, his heartbeat seemed to increase a little.
Suddenly the little lights stopped appearing and the hunter found himself below a very old willow near the lakeside, with branched that reached the ground. A growl followed and he kicked the innocent tree. Jonghyun was somewhat pissed, he couldn’t believe nothing was here. It frustrated him to the point which made him ignore the sounds that came from higher up.

“Hey you!” a familiar voice yelled from high up in the tree. It was Key, who didn’t seem to be too pleased.
“How dare you kick an innocent tree, that hurts you know!” Jonghyun lifted an eyebrow. He didn’t believe that trees could harbour feelings at all. His eyes met with Key’s, he hadn’t seen the other so upset before.

“Sorry?” the male offered to the creature. Key climbed down, Jonghyun noticed that he wasn’t wearing the same robes as the other day, but a simple set of shorts with a matching shirt.

“So the will-o-wisps brought you here?” The ‘maiden’ was quick witted. “I guess I can forgive you then, because after all, you don’t know anything about the forest apart from how to hurt it” Jonghyun somehow felt ashamed that Key said that. The other had an attitude which was completely new to the hunter.

“Well if you were brought here, there must be a reason....” The maiden sat down against the large tree and patted the empty spot to his left, gesturing for the other to sit down.  Jonghyun did as Key requested.

“Why is it dangerous for me to be here at night?” The male wondered, it was a bit contradicting ever since he went into the forest while he knew all too well he shouldn’t have. Key sighed and ran a hand through his blond hair.
“It’s dangerous for you because you know nothing...”

“Then teach me!” The maiden backed off, startled by the sudden boldness Jonghyun displayed. “I know I’m a horrible hunter and I know I know nothing, but I’m willing to learn.” Somehow he felt that Key couldn’t refuse this request. The other let out a sigh and as predicted agreed to teach Jonghyun some things.

“Alright, I will help you, hunter or whatever you are, but I do have a condition, you can’t come looking for me, I will meet you. Don’t search me out, you won’t find me, I don’t like people, but since you’re this persistent, I guess I will have to deal with it.” Jonghyun’s eyes lit up as he gladly agreed to Key’s conditions.

“My name is Jonghyun, not hunter.” He pointed out. Key rolled his eyes and averted his graze. “I know that” he muttered softly, but Jonghyun heard it anyway.

“Anyway ‘Jonghyun’ you came here in the dark, so you’ll have to sleep under the tree, I’m sorry, but I can’t teach you anything at night, I need my sleep as well, so just sleep here and I’ll see you in the morning.” Jonghyun had wanted to stop the other, but Key was way faster and had climbed the tree before he could even respond. When the other climbed the tree, Jonghyun noticed the shackle again, but this time a small part of chain was attached as well.

The hunter wondered again and decided to ask about it sometime. He had to sleep so he made himself comfortable. Sleep was quicker to take this time around. His sleep was dreamless and somehow that was very pleasant to the male.

Once the sun started to rise, Jonghyun was awakened by the sound of splashing water nearby. He was a bit too quick to open his eyes and was blinded for a brief moment. The male rubbed his eyes and stretched. He opened his eyes again, this time around it was easier for him to manage. His vision cleared and he could see what was happening now. He saw Key, dressed in earth toned colours, on the shore trying to catch something.

The hunter chuckled, it was somehow quite nice to see. Jonghyun got up and approached the other. “Good morning.” He said with a bright smile. Key got startled and fell in the water. He gave Jonghyun a death stare.
“Well it was a good morning, that was until you startled me, how am I supposed to catch a fish now?” he wondered as he got up. Jonghyun didn’t quite know what to do. “Since you are just standing there, get your lazy bum over here so we can catch some decent breakfast.” The maiden walked up to Jonghyun and pulled him along.  

“So can you fish?” Key questioned, but to his surprise Jonghyun nodded. He pulled a small string with a fishing hook out of his pocket.
“I can actually” he pointed out. The other didn’t seem to hear. He was taken by the simple device, more specifically, the hook.
“What is that? Why does it glister in the light?” the maiden tried to touch the sharp end of the hook, but the other was quick to pull it away. “Don’t touch that, you could hurt yourself.”
Key was started and looked at Jonghyun in disbelief. “That small thing can hurt me?” Jonghyun assumed that Key only knew how to catch a fish with bare hands, which wasn’t very efficient in his opinion.

“Yes it can hurt, it pierces trough the mouth of a fish so you can catch it.” Before he knew it the other had snatched the thing and ran away with it. Jonghyun threw his head back. The maiden had proven to be much more stubborn than he anticipated.

Key sat on the other side of the tree, he was taken by the small device, he didn’t think ‘humans’ would be able to invent something that could help with fishing. He usually just waited for the fish to come to him so he could catch them. “Is it interesting?” Jonghyun had found Key. The maiden looked up in shock. “Erm....erm.....yes” he said softly and handed the thing back with an evident blush on his cheeks. He recaptured himself quickly.

“Well If you know how to fish that well, then you should do it, I’ll gather some other things.” Key pouted and walked off without uttering another word. Jonghyun tried to follow for a moment but knew it was a lost cause.

The young hunter annex fisher walked back to the lake and did exactly as his father taught him to. Time seemed to pass slower when the other wasn’t around, even though the day had proven to be nice and quite beautiful, it still wasn’t the same anymore.

Everything seemed to be a little too quiet. Jonghyun suddenly heard a familiar voice scream. It was Key. Without thinking, he ran over deeper into the forest, stumbled every now and then. The sight that was presented to him, was rather shocking.

“What the?”

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I know I'm a horrible author TT-TT this chapter so hard, it will get more interesting from here. I'm sorry I didn't update last week, midterms are next week and it's so busy D: but to make it up to you, I'll be participating with the NaNoWriMo with this story, meaning it will get more regular updates~!

Also to make it up to you a little more, have one of the songs I listen to while writing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNajUkcGr9M
I know it's a strange taste, concidering this is Kpop fanfiction, but the roots of the storyline of this fanfiction lay in the same tradition.

hopefully till next time

<3<3<3