Chapter 5

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"Amber?" Taemin said.

Taemin was taken back by his best friend's appearance. What was she doing there? Shouldn't she be with Taesun? Where was Taesun? Why was there blood on her? He didn't bother asking her those questions. He quickly grabbed her, pulling her inside the house, helping her sit down on a chair. Amber was holding onto her injured shoulder. She came all this way with a large shard of glass in her shoulder blade. Taemin rushed to get a wet towel and bucket. He placed the towel over her shoulder where she was bleeding. Amber whimpered at the light touch. Taemin griped the shard that pierced into her shoulder, and began to pull it lose. Amber bit her lip to hold back from screaming in pain. Taemin tired his best not to hurt her, but the glass was deep in her skin. Once Taemin felt the glass loosen, he pulled as fast as he could to try to make it painless.

Taemin threw the blood covered glass away, and quickly wrapped up Amber's arm to stop the bleeding. A flash of light came through the window, and not long after, a roaring boom. The storm was getting worst. Amber still hadn't said anything. She sat there, with her eyes in a daze. Almost like she had lost her soul. Taemin grabbed another towel that didn't have any blood on it, and place it around Amber to dry her off. He ran the towel through her hair and kept his hand around her head.

"Amber, how did this happen?" He said.

Amber closed her eyes, and tilted her head down. Tears rolled down her cheeks. Taemin gently grabbed her face, wiping away her tears with his thumbs. Her tears continued. She covered her face with her hands, leaning her head against Taemin's shoulder. He didn't know what to say to make her calm down. He wrapped his arms around, holding her. Where was Taesun?

"W-we took the wrong path." Amber mumbled. Taemin ran his hand up and down her back, trying to sooth her. "We couldn't see. The fog." Amber pulled away to look Taemin straight in the eyes. Tears were falling out of her eyes, and Taemin felt a pain in his heart. In all the years Taemin knew Amber, he had never seen her cry. He didn't like his best friend crying while he couldn't do anything to make her stop. Not only did she get hurt, but something bad must of happened to Taesun. She wouldn’t cry if it just her injured arm. "The ledge." She almost choked on her own sobs. "I tired Taemin. I-I tired, but I couldn't reach h-him in time."

"Ledge? Reach? Taesun fell over a ledge?" Taemin tried his best to understand her. All she could do was nod. "Where? Is he alright?" Taemin stood up. Amber grabbed his wrist to stop him. He looked down at her. She was shaking her head. Damn it. He couldn't stand. Another light busted in the window, followed by thunder. This couldn't be happening. Right? It was all a trick Amber and Taesun were playing. She was still shaking her head.

"He's fine. I'll go get him." Taemin removed his hand from hers. He grabbed his hooded cape, draping it over his shoulders and prepared to head out of the house.

"Taemin!" Amber had stood up. "Mianhae. I'm so sorry."

Taemin couldn’t understand his feelings right now. He felt angry, confused, but mostly depression. He couldn't stand the thought of losing his family. He balled his hand into a fist at his sides. "I'll find him, don't worry about it. It'll all be okay." He took another step towards the door.

"He's dead Taemin!" Amber screamed. She hated to say it, and she didn't want to believe it anymore than Taemin did. "There's no way he would be able to survive that fall."

Boom. Another flash of light. Taemin looked at her over his shoulder. He didn't believe her. He didn't want to believe her. Instead of fighting back with her, he acted without thinking. He ran straight out his front door. Another strike of lighting.

Taemin ran as fast as he could. He didn't care that it was raining. He didn't care about the lighting. He needed to find his brother. Taesun was all he had left. He could still hear Amber yelling after him, telling him to stop. He didn't. Taemin kept running and running until he was past the town limits. The rain pounded down on him hard. He had almost lost his foot work a few times because of the mud and puddles. He kept going. Lighting flashed again. The thunder pounded in his eyes. He wasn't going to stop. Damn it nothing was going to hold him back from getting to his brother.

He followed the only path there was. It lead him into a forest area, where he knew Amber and Taesun had gone. There were fallen tree branches, rivers and other obstacles in his way, but he quickly made it around them. God his feet killed. His lungs were pumping as fast as they could. His heart going twice as fast. He never ran as fast or as far before in his life. He was running for someone he loved, that was only he had to keep going. He knew Amber and Taesun had traveled a few days, and it would take him just as long, but he would rather die fighting to get to his brother.

After what felt like hours of nothing but running down the same path, Taemin reached some kind of small town. Weird. He never heard of there being any other towns this close to his home village. The place looked empty. Houses were burnt down, and falling apart. Taemin slowed down, and carefully looked around the town. He pulled the hood over his head to keep the rain out of his eyes. He passed by, what looked to be a children's school. His foot pushed over a toy bear, that was tore up. Why was this place abandoned? He looked further ahead and noticed a small light in the distance. Was it the sun? Had he been traveling that long? No, it couldn't be, it was moving. He keep his eyes focused on the light, and to his luck, another flash of lighting passed. The flash let him be able see that the light was inside a building. A very large building. He walked as close as he could before it was blocked off by a tall metal gate. He gripped the bars. He looked around the yard. Damn the weather. It was so hard to see.

Boom. Lighting. Taemin saw something out of the corner of his eye. He squinted. The cart? The cart Taesun and Amber had the horse carry was on the other side of the gate. It was in pieces and everything that it carried was all over. If that cart was with them, and it fell over the ledge with Taesun, than where was Taesun? Taemin pulled on the gate with all his might. It wouldn't move. The bars were too rusted. So he wasted no time, and climbed over them. Once he jumped over to the other side, He walked up to the door. He noticed it was slightly open already. He didn't care whose house it was, he invited himself in. This building, wasn't abanded. Someone lived here.

"Annyeong?" Taemin took a deep breathe. There wasn't a response. Only mumbling. Someone was here. Taemin walked around. Each step he took echoed throughout the whole place. He had never seen anything so huge. He heard whispering, but couldn't make out what it was. "Is anyone here?" Taemin saw a light moving in a hallway. Were they ignoring him? He followed the light. "Annyeong?"

The hallway twisted down into some sort of basement. The light he followed disappeared. The only light there was, was a candelabra that was placed on the floor. It gave enough light for Taemin to figure out the room. It was a prison. The cold bricks were cracked along the wall, and the outside breeze was easily making it through. These bars were just as rusted as the ones out front, but one cell's bar were moved. The rust marks were left on the floor as it was opened. Taemin walked over to that cell. He could see something black in the far end of the cell, so he picked up the candelabra to see it better.

Taesun. Taemin dropped the candelabra, and ran inside the cell, swinging the door wide open. "Taesun?" Taemin picked up his brother. Taemin pushed the hair out of his brother's face. He was breathing. Tears of joy built up in Taemin's eyes. He held back those tears, and got up to carry his brother. He wasn't able to get a hand on his brother, before some had pulled Taemin's cape. Taemin was lifted off his feet, being chocked by his cape. He kicked around his legs fighting back whoever held onto him. Then Taemin was flung across the room, and slammed into the brick wall. The candelabra went out, and all the light was gone. Taemin couldn't see a thing, but he heard the cell door slammed shut.

"How did you get in here?" a voice said. Taemin eyes widened. This person who was talking, had a dark deep voice. Something he never heard before. He could hear the person stepping close to him. Taemin picked himself off the ground. "Answer me!" The voice echoed within the room. "How did you find this place?"

"I was looking for my brother. Please, let him go."

"No!" The voice screamed. Or did it growl? "He trespassed on my castle. As are you!"

"But he's hurt, and could die!" Taemin yelled right back. This man couldn't treat him this way. Like hell Taemin was going without a fight. "Don't you see he needs help!"

"He shouldn't have come on my grounds. He's my prisoner now." Taemin felt the man's breathe down his neck.

"T-Taemin?" Taesun coughed out. Taemin tried to run over to his brother. Damn it, not now! Please for love of god not now. His brother was having another attack.

"Please, let him go!" Taemin was pulled back by his arm, and fell. "Please I'll do anything! Let me take care of him! He could die!" Taemin struggled against the man's grip. Before Taemin thought of what to say, his heart was speaking for him. "Set him free! You want a prisoner, then damn it, I'll take his place! Just see him free!" The man let go of Taemin's arm.

"What?" The voice was quiet. It sounded confused almost.

"I'll stay here, I won't fight! I won't try to run! I won't! Please!" Taemin was put on his feet. He heard the cell door open again. It worked? He was letting Taesun go?

"You'll take his place?"

"Neh!"

"You must never leave!"

"I promise." Taemin stood up tall.

There was a short pause. No one moved until the person huffed, and grabbed Taesun out of his cell. Taemin heard Taesun cry in pain. He also heard foot steps moving across the brick floor. They were fading away. The man had left with Taesun, leaving Taemin alone in the prison. Taemin fell to knees and held himself. He was wet, his legs were still in pain, and he was tired, but his brother was safe. That was all that mattered. The storm had cleared outside, and the moon light was shining. It shone through the cracks of the wall, giving Taemin some light to see. A few minutes had pasted before that man came back into the prison. He still stood in a dark corner of the room. Taemin stood on his feet under the moon light, looking at the shadow figure in the room. The man moved faster than a heart beat, grabbing Taemin around his neck, lifting him up, so his feet weren't touching the floor.

Just then, the man stood in the moonlight also. Taemin gasped, and widened his eyes. He couldn't breathe. This was no man at all. It was some sort of monster. It was larger than a man, with broader shoulders and a longer face. It's face was covered with green fur almost. Parts like it's nose, ears, mouth and area of the eyes were covered with what looked to be dead skin, in the shape of scales. The only thing that looked close to human, was it's eyes. It's scaled palms tighten around Taemin's neck, digging into his skin with it long sharp nails. Taemin was quickly thrown backwards into the cell, slamming his back, almost breaking his ribs. Taemin pushed himself onto his elbows, just as the cell door was slammed shut and locked. The monster still stood in the moonlight, giving it eerie shadows on it's face. The monster looked down at Taemin, who was scared out of his mind, then walked out of the prison. Leaving Taemin alone in the cold cell for the night.