The first snow of winter has a mystic, otherwordly property no human has ever quite been able to describe. It happens like magic, a single flake breaking away from an overweighted cloud. Then it makes its descent, twisting, turning, drifting, down past branches and onto frost covered ground painted white. And then winter has begun.

Beneath the fallen leaves, he can feel the flake as it seeps into the Earth. It tingles his dormant skin into sensation, awakens his frozen mind. How long had it been since he had felt the snow? He can feel his tired body thawing, feel the blood in his veins yawn into life and begin to circulate. A heartbeat shakes his chest, startling him into further awareness. But being alive is not so simple, and the crushing weight of his empty lungs throws his mind into a tizzy. His fingers burn as he forces them awake, clawing at the sodden ground that covers him. Air. He needs air. Now.

In one violent push he shoves away the dirt and fallen leaves that cover him and bursts out of the ground. The forest around him is completely silent aside from the heavy gulps of air he breathes, and desperate hands claw at his heavy chest. Tilting his head back as his breathing evens out, he watches clouds form in the chilled air. Flat flakes of snow drift lazily between the trees and land on his porcelain skin.

How long had it been since he had been alive? Not this dormant state of being beneath the hard earth but a living, breathing, being. Laughter bubbles up his throat and bursts through his lips along with a great grin. That is when he hears the call. A piercing growl that falls from the cliff above him. He swivels his head to look up the cliff, knowing the sound instantly. Knowing why he was awoken instantly.

The young man's eyes ignite with glowing blue fire.

"I see you've unfortunately awoken too, brother."

Baekhyun awakens to a very peculiar sound grumbling astoundingly close to his ear drums. Something between a bear and a horse, except much, much louder. Blinking his tired eyes awake, the sound hits him once more, this time a slimy sensation along his neck sends his senses into full alertness, and his eyes fly open towards the sound.

The scrappy scoundrel of a navigator breathes in another ear-splitting snore, into Baekhyun's ear, immediately followed by a puddle of drool leaking onto Baekhyun's already-wet neck.

Baekhyun blinks.

Xiumin snores.

Baekhyun watches the growing pool of spit in Xiumin's mouth begin to rise and drip over the edge of his lips as he breathes out...

"AGHHH!!"

With a scream Baekhyun throws the older man off and wipes at his neck. His hand comes back wet and glistening with drool. The fallen Xiumin grunts and groans, slowly opening his eyes and stretching, wiping a dirty sleeve across his drool-stained cheek. Meanwhile Baekhyun feverishly wipes his hand on his tunic.

Xiumin's mouth gapes into a yawn and he pushes himself into a sitting position, lazily looking Baekhyun up and down.

"What are you screaming about, so early in the morning?"

Baekhyun can hardly believe his ears.

"What am--?! What am I--!?"

Xiumin picks at his earwax with a pinky finger, "Yeah, could you quiet down?" then, after inspecting said finger, flicks the wad into the dirt, "it's kinda loud."

Baekhyuns gasps with disbelief.

"I cannot believe this. This low-life imebecile--"

Xiumin sniffs and wipes his sleeve on his nose, "You gotta stop using those big words. Seriously. Nobody gets 'em but you."

Baekhyun, red in the face with rage, raises his arm to remind this peasant who he's talking to, but goes cold as ice and white as a ghost as a strong hand grips his shoulder.

"I see you two are up early," Sehun squeezes Baekhyun's shoulder so hard it hurts.

Xiumin yawns, "Not by choice."

While Xiumin stands and begins to stretch himself, Sehun leans closely into Baekhyun's ear, letting the sound of his voice chill the prince's bones.

"A good king is kind to all his people."

Baekhyun clenches his teeth and shoots daggers at Xiumin with his eyes, "he's making it very difficult--ow!"

A forced smile plasters itself on Sehun's face, "I said all."

Sehun releases his grip on the prince's shoulder and puts a hand on the hilt of his sword.

"But I'm afraid there are larger problems at hand. We need to get back to the city. They've already got a lead on us."

"What kind of powers do Gods have?"

Kai rolls his eyes inwardly at the taller man's ever-persistent questions.

"It depends on the God."

"So can you, like, shoot lightning or something like that?" Chanyeol throws an arm out and makes his own sound effects. From behind Kyungsoo looks up from his novel with an irritated frown.

"No," Kai answers.

Disappointment crosses Chanyeol's face.

"Oh."

"But my brother can."

"Your brother?" Eun juts in, jumping over a knobby root in the ground to catch up to her brother and Kai, "you didn't say you had a brother."

"I have many," Kai glances over at her, "most of which are dead. He's the only one left."

"Is he a God too?" Chanyeol chimes in, eyes agleam with curiosity.

"Of course he is."

"Why don't you try to find him?" Eun raises her eyebrows, "he could help us find  your orb!"

Chanyeol nods, "it would definitely be an advantage to have another God on our side."

Kai narrowly dodges a tree branch that swings right into Chanyeol's face. Kyungsoo barely stifles a laugh.

The God looks over his shoulder at the man still rubbing his face, "He won't help us."

"Why not?"

Kai turns his back to them and continues down the path.

"His only purpose is to kill me."

Chen barrels through the forest at full speed, releshing the chill of the night air in his pelt, the solid ground beneath his paws. His long-rested muscles itch and burn for usage, to be pushed to their full potential. If he ran like this all night, he could be at the palace within two days. Certainly faster than his brother, who had to take the cliff path down, could ever go. By the time Kai showed up to the palace gates, he would be waiting to rip his throat out as he was meant to centuries ago. Laughter bubbled up to his lips at the idea of finally, finally ending that sad monster. How lucky he had been to have even made it this far. Chen thought for sure his brother would have been killed by that magistrate by now. But there was a reason he was wakened. The mountain clearly didn't believe a lowly mortal could handle Kai.

Glowing torchlight drifting between the trees stops Chen cold in his tracks. It bobs and darts about the trees, with about four others trailing behind. Voices echo in his ears, a language he once knew so well but now cannot seem to recall its meaning. Perhaps he had been a beast for too long. Perhaps all his remaining humanity has been drained to the point where he can no longer understand their language. It didn't matter to him. There was a language that only the Gods could speak. And when he killed him, his brother would certainly hear those last words.

One light announces something to the other torches, who shout something back and begin heading down the path. The light travels down the ravine deeper into the forest, darting back and forth as if searching or surveying. Chen keeps his head low and eyes wide open. His tail hangs so low to the ground it grazes the frosted tips of  grass as he takes silent steps towards the torchlight.

As he grows closer the light takes form, a young man with a sword on his hip and an oversized helmet on his head. What a fool. How could he have ventured so far by himself? Left himself be so pathetically vulnerable?

A twig snaps under Chen's foot and the boy swivels around, waving his torch with him. The hot firelight falls on Chen's snow-white face. In an instant the boy is on the ground, sending out a loud scream. Yelling something at the other torchlights who are long since too far gone to hear, the boy scrambles back until his spine is pressed up against a tree. Blood trickles down his face from a cut where the jagged end of his torch had caught his cheek when he dropped it.

"What foolish beings," Chen growls, "I won't hurt you."

But his voice is nothing more than that of a wolf's to the young man.

"S-sir."

The boy's voice turns Chen's large white head towards a new light, held up by a small-statured man in armor. 

"Yong-oh," the older man warns, "look away. Don't look into its eyes."

Then, he turns to Chen, his brown eyes burn with the reflection of torchlight.

"Go away. Go back to where you came from."

So you know, Chen growls, that a human like you is no match for a god. 

Again, the armored man swings his torch at Chen, who recoils and releases a snarl, stepping back. 

"Get out of here!"

"What are you doing!?" Yong-oh's voice breaks the ice-thin tension between the general and the wolf, and Chen pounces. But he knows better than to aim for the general. A lion will always kill the weakest prey before daring to try the strongest.

Chen leaps into the air, his lithe body flying through the night air towards a paralyzed Yong-oh. But then the image of the young man's frightened face is torn away from Chen's view as a heavy weight hits his side, shoving him out of the way and into a thick tree trunk. He whimpers from the pain of the impact and shakes out his fur, trying to catch his breath.

The general grabs Yong-oh's arm and hauls him up. Taking one last look over his shoulder, he throws his torch onto a pile of branches in front of Chen and sets them ablaze, creating a firey barrier between the two.

The young men disappear into the night, leaving Chen gasping for breath on the ground.  

Chen stifles a laugh. Running, foolish. Fighting, foolish. He could catch them in the blink of an eye should he choose the chase. 

Yet here he was on the ground, feeling adrenaline pumping in his veins. The jolting tingle of impact still pinching his chest. It was a good fight, and for that gift, he would let them go. 

Chanyeol pulls back his hanbok sleeves and adjusts the map in his hands. 

"OH NO!" Chanyeol proclaims, throwing Kyungsoo so off guard that he nearly trips over himself, "I think we're going the wrong way!!"

Eun swivels around, "what?"

"Yeah, look!" Chanyeol continues, tilting the map at different angles. Eun jogs up the hill to his side and peers down. 

"See this little symbol here is the temple," Chanyeol points at a mark, "this is the river we've been following," he trails his finger down a blue line, "but look, up here is the capital!" He exclaims, jabbing a finger at a red dot towards the top of the map. 

Kyungsoo pushes off the ground and dusts himself off, grumbling about unnecessary loudness. 

"The capital is south," Kai states.

Kyungsoo takes the map from dumbfounded Chanyeol's hand, turns it over, and returns it to him. 

"You're holding the map upside down, idiot."

A sheepish grin breaks on Chanyeol's lips and he scratches the back of his head, "Oh, I see."

All faces turn to Kai when a low grumble echoes through the trees. 

Eun slowly lifts an eyebrow, "Kai...are you..hungry?"

He stares at the ground as pinkish tint blooms under his skin, "no," he says firmly. 

The grumble sounds again. Chanyeol bursts into laughter and Kai's face turns even darker red. 

Chanyeol throws his arm around Kai, dropping the map, and pats his shoulder, "worry not, my friend! The next town is just down there. What say we grab a bite to eat?"

Kyungsoo begrudgingly picks up the map Chanyeol had abandoned around the ground and nods his head, "let's go."

All eyes turn to Eun. 

"Of course!" she smiles, "lets go!"

A black top knot bobs through thin tall strands of yellow wheat. The brush behind him ruffles and Baekhyun whips his head around, in short breaths. He clenches and unclenches his fists. A bead of sweat trails down his forehead. The grass shakes again and send Baekhyun nearly tumbling backwards. 

"You can do this, Baek," he whispers under his breath. Wiping his brow he shakes his head to clear it and hones in on the golden barley around him. The sound of a foot on sodden ground piques his ears and he turns carefully. A flash of brown hair in the distance vanishes as fast as it had come. Carefully pivoting on one foot, Baekhyun's hands reach for his quiver and bow. One hand tugs the bow lose from his back, while the other settles on the stiff feather fins of an arrow. Another rush of wind draws him to his left, and Baekhyun raises his bow, masterfully sliding his finger back along the string. Come on, he prompts the silence, come out. 

As if answering his prayer, the brown hair flashes again. This time much closer. The sudden movement jolts Baekhyun, who tugs on the arrow and sends it skimming across the tops of the barley, only to fall to an unseen end. Baekhyun tumbles backwards from the force, onto the ground. Another sound alerts his ears, but before he can reach for another arrow, the owner of the brown hair knocks him to the ground, holding the same arrow Baekhyun had shot just a moment earlier--only pointing it directly at Baekhyun's throat. 

"N-n-now-now," Baekhyun raises his arms in surrender, "let's not be too hasty here. It's just a game."

Xiumin raises an eyebrow and relaxes his hips, settling his weight on Baekhyun's chest, "Oh really?"

The younger man coughs and releases a weeze. 

Xiumin flips the arrow around in one swift movement and catches it again, tilting it around to inspect the king-quality arrow head. 

"This is nice," he nods his approval, "it sure pays to be the king's kid."

"Get off of me," Baekhyun barely wheezes out the words under Xiumin's weight.

Xiumin stops his inspection of the arrow momentarily, "huh? I can't hear you, your royal mumbliness."

"I said, off," Baekhyun chokes, weakly pushing on the older man's arms. 

Xiumin stares a moment, then gets off.

"Oh."

"Ugh!" Baekhyun groans and sits up. He stomps his feet in frustration, then shoots a death glare at Xiumin, "you said this would help me!!"

In one swift movement Xiumin arches his back and jumps up to standing. He places a hand on his hip.

"This is helping."

"You tackled me!!"

Xiumin wiggles the arrow in his hand with raised eyebrows, "but you managed to shoot at me. You were close!"

Baekhyun rolls his eyes with a groan, "not close enough."

"Is right now any time to be playing?"

Both men turn to the new voice slithering across the wheat field. With his hands behind his back as always, Yixing walks into the clearing with poised precision, barely moving his expensively-clothed feet. 

Yixing looks the men up and down, his voice clear like water but scented like poison, "we're hunting a god, and yet I see here you are, playing tag."

Xiumin's eyes are hard, "practice is what makes a hunter."

A pleasant smile slides onto Yixing's lips, "apparently a thief, as well."

Xiumin can't hide the red fury that burns under his cheeks.

"Why I ought to--"

"Let's head back to camp!" Baekhyun chimes, snatching the arrow from Xiumin and putting it back into his quiver, "I'm sure brother-in-law is looking for us."

Xiumin peeks over at Baekhyun and flicks his head, "He found you."

Heads turn yet again as Sehun enters the clearing. His arm now free of the sling he wears only a bandage to cover his healing scars. Today his hair is disheveled and hangs loose about his shoulders. Beneath his eyes the purple hues of sleepless nights are beginning to show. 

"What are you two doing this time?"

Baekhyun and Xiumin exchange glances. The prince is the first to speak. 

"Xiumin was just teaching me how to shoot my bow!"

Sehun's eyes wander to the older man, "Xiumin should be planning our course to the city, not pretending to be a mentor."

The man's whole body flinches at Sehun's words, but Sehun is unphased. He turns on his heel and heads back to camp, but not before glancing at Yixing out of the corner of his eye. 

"And you," he calls over his shoulder, "ambassadors aren't supposed to leave their palanquins. I'm letting it go now, but if you get lost out here I won't be responsible."

Yixing dips his head respectfully and follows behind. 

Baekhyun startles as Xiumin suddenly tears the bow from his hand. In a flash Xiumin runs his finger down the string to find the perfect place and draws the string back--aiming an arrow directly at Sehun's back.

"X-X-Xiumin what are you doing??" Baekhyun's eyes fly open. The older man squints an eye, honing in on his target. The bow's string grows tauter. 

"H-hey, wait!" 

In the last moment, he switches his aim. With a zip the arrow goes flying towards the sky, straight up into the air. After a moment it falls back down onto the ground in front of Xiumin. He lets out a heavy breath and shoves the bow back into Baekhyun's chest before trudging away, leaving the younger boy baffled.

Hey guys! Sorry it's not too exciting of a chapter this time, and even more sorry its so gosh darn late! I struggled so much to get this chapter out. I had almost constant writers block. As soon as I sat down to write it I just couldn't come up with content. Hopefully I'll start being able to post more soon!