~Chapter 60~

The Forbidden Forest Massacre

No One’s POV~

            Moonkyu, Wonshik, and Kai hold their breath for a moment as Taemin leads the way. I can’t make it obvious, they all think to themselves. Taemin hesitantly walks forward as his friends follow him carefully, making sure they do not mess things up. Kai actually received more damage than expected and can feel his energy seep out of his body. Taemin quickly locks his acupoints and forces him to rest as the other two carry him along. Jong Kook and Jimin follow by horse as the army marches behind. Jong Kook knows that the White Masked Hero loves Minho and wouldn’t turn on them, but he also knows that he hates the Peacekeepers. If he has already led the monsters and civilians away, why should he give up so easily? This is unlike him…he thinks. He raises his hand up and the army stops on their tracks.

            Jong Kook and Jimin quickly dash forward with their horses. They passed the array, Taemin curses. Kai quickly reaches his arms out and was lucky enough to grab onto the horses’ tails. With his monster-strength, he pulls them back. The horses neigh in terror as they fall over, but luckily do not face much damage. As Jimin and Jong Kook land aside their distraught horses, Taemin quickly activates the formation and entraps the soldiers. “You!” Jong Kook glares.

            “Looks like it’s just you two verses us,” Taemin says. “We don’t need to get the innocent people hurt. Jimin, Moonkyu, and Wonshik don’t know how to use spiritual energy. Jong Kook hyungnim, let’s have a duel. I know you have to report back to the emperor, but you also don’t want to hurt others. If you don’t know what to do, then let me choose for you. I will defeat you and you will return to the emperor and never return here again.”

            “You don’t understand what is at stake for me,” Jong Kook says sternly.

            “I know that a celestial being can become a servant to someone if they save them or do them a favor, but they only have to pay the person back with a favor equivalent to their life. You don’t have to keep helping—”

            “He has her bead,” Jong Kook confesses. Taemin’s eyebrow twitches, shocked by Jong Kook’s response. “Unless I help him complete his soul transfer, she will cease to exist once he accumulates enough dark and resentful energy. I am not only doing this for him, I am doing this for her.” Taemin’s face drops as he realizes why Jong Kook has been doing all the dirty work for the king for so long. The ‘her’ he is talking about is no other than the empresses locked up in the palace. If he is doing this for the person he loves, how can Taemin not feel empathy for him? Taemin is also doing this for the people he loves.

            “I…” Taemin bites on the inside of his lip and looks at Jong Kook. “I guess this is where we part ways,” he sighs. He had wanted to give Jong Kook a way out since he knew deep down, they are friends despite their numerous clashes. Now that he fully understands why Jong Kook is betraying their friendship, he has lost all hope of them ever mending their relationship. Taemin will continue to protect those he loves, and Jong Kook will continue to oppose them because he is also protecting someone he loves. No matter how right or wrong their actions may be, the root of all this is one simple word: love. “I will always respect you, hyung-nim, but I will not back down. Draw your weapon.”

            Sparks fly and energy surges as Taemin and Jong Kook exchange their powerful blows. Nearly a hundred moves have been exchanged, but neither one has backed down. Despite his previous injuries, Taemin is standing his ground. He has a bead equivalent to a celestial being after all. Although he is physically hurt and his energy recently returned, he is not weak enough to be knocked down too easily. As a fighter with high agility, Taemin dances around as he dodges Jong Kook’s hammer as it smashes large cracks onto the ground. The soldiers are going wild as they cheer. Jong Kook is no easy opponent. The moment Taemin dodges, he has to move once more to avoid getting smashed. He barely has time to attack himself, strictly focusing on defense.

            Taemin’s vision occasional blurs as he struggles to make a dent in Jong Kook’s fighting formation. Jong Kook is much too strong and much too smart. Although Taemin’s movements are hard to follow, Jong Kook still manages to keep up. With his head spinning due to his impaired energy flow, Taemin can’t help but to face Jong Kook head on. He won’t last much longer.

            Taemin finally switches to full offense and starts flying toward Jong Kook. He spins his spear with haste and its ends send out streaks of blade-like energy, slashing toward Jong Kook. With his formidable hammer, Jong Kook dissipates Taemin attacks. Taemin lunges forward and manages to slash Jong Kook’s arm, shocking the crowd. With a quick twirl, Taemin slashes another deep laceration on Jong Kook’s side.

            Before his friends can cheer, Taemin’s upper hand faltered as Joon Kook bashes his right in the back. “Uhhg,” Taemin groans as a mouthful of blood splatters onto the ground. He stumbles forward but regains his balance by sticking his foot out. With a push with his left leg, Taemin spins around only to once again get hit by Jong Kook, right in the middle of his spear. His handles tremble as he feels the energy flow through, and a distinct crack was heard. His eyes quickly shoot down to his spear and an undeniable fissure was made from the impact. Taemin’s weapon is legendary, yet it cannot withstand the beating of a celestial beast’s mystical weapon.

            How much more can you take on, Taemin internally cries to his spear. Although it is a weapon, it has a strong spiritual energy and its years of slaying monsters has made it harness enough energy to become its own magical artifact. His spear cracked gives him a pain no less than if a friend were to get hurt. Taemin’s heart began to ache. He uses his power to put away his weapon in defeat. As he switches to fighting with his bare fists, Taemin nearly scolded himself. I’m an idiot. I can’t fight him like this. He’s going to crush me. Lee Taemin, what are you thinking!? Who do you think you are!

            “Catch!” Wonshik yells as he tosses his renowned sword toward Taemin. He catches it with ease and shoots his friend a smile, despite the mask on his face. Taemin exchanges a few moves and regains his composure. Panic engulfs him as each attack is countered by Jong Kook. He was taught how to wield a sword by Jong Kook back when he was in Heroes’ Rebellion after all. Each move of his is all too familiar to Jong Kook and cannot catch him off guard. Before long, his sword is knocked right out of his hand and another loud crack is heard as Taemin’s arm is snapped.

            He cries as he clutches onto his broken arm as blood pours down to his elbow. His heart sinks as he sees his bone poking out of his skin and his arm bent at an unnatural manner. Moonkyu and Wonshik charged forward. Jong Kook quickly face them as Jimin swiftly helps Taemin up. He takes his sword out and sends a stream of dark energy to close off the line of vision of the soldiers. The soldiers yell as the confusion causes them to lose their composure, but Jimin ignores them. He stands in front of Taemin protectively.

            Kai jerks awake as Moonkyu falls on top of him and his bit of rest has already helped him regain some energy. The three fight Jong Kook as Jimin and Taemin look at each other awkwardly. Although they came as enemies today, they all were once friends. With such close quarters and Taemin injured, this would be the perfect time for Jimin to attack, but he doesn’t. Taemin is able to use internal energy whereas Jimin cannot, but his weapon is tainted enough that it would do quite the damage if used. Nonetheless, the two turn away and watch the battle.

            With Taemin hurt, Kai, Moonkyu, and Wonshik weakened, Jong Kook deemed this was the perfect time to make the final blow. He growls as a sends out an explosive ball of spiritual energy that sends them all flying back. Even with Jimin blocking him, Taemin’s breath gets knocked out as the energy crashes into his body. He can feel a few more of his bones crack as the energy throws him back. His body suddenly feels light as a feather, almost like his soul was leaving his body. Just as he was about to collide with a massive tree, he feels a pair of warm, gentle arms support him and wrap around his waist. He looks up and sees Minho’s concerned face with his impaired vision.

            Minho’s eyebrows were tightly knit, his nostrils flared, jaw was tight, and his eyes were flaming with rage. Taemin unconsciously tried to comfort Minho and slowly reached to his face despite his broken state. He Minho’s cheek with the back of his hand, almost like he wanted to tell him ‘I’m okay, please don’t be angry.’ Minho carefully put him down and leaned him against the tree. He takes off his outerwear and tenderly drapes it over Taemin before he whips around. With Minho standing directly in front of him, all Taemin can see is Minho’s broad back as he pulls out his flute. As he struggles to stay awake, Taemin can see a familiar silhouette emerge from the thick trees. Before he completely slips into unconsciousness, Taemin hears an earsplitting tune with hundreds of terrified, agonizing screams echoing through the Forbidden Forest. 

            “Hyung!” Taemin hears himself shouting. His vision clears as he foggily realizes he is walking around the palace. His feet feel light and his body is not in his full control. As he wanders around, he continues yelling out. The palace is eerie and empty, unlike its normal bustling state with guards, maids, and eunuchs running about. Wait, wasn’t I just at the Forbidden Forest? Why am I here? With such a familiar situation, Taemin has a hunch. He forces himself to lift his hand up.

            With his hand to his face, he counts to himself, one…two…three…four…only four fingers! Ever since Taemin had the reoccurring nightmare back in Heroes’ Rebellion, he trained himself so that he can tell when he is dreaming. At times, he can get full control over his dream body. He sighs with both relief and nervous anticipation as he knows how the nightmare always ends. No matter how much he tried, he cannot escape its ending. On the bright side, if he is dreaming, he must be alive. He has been in a state of complete darkness for a while and this was the first thing he saw as he ‘awoke.’ How long have I been knocked out for? He wonders.

            Although he is nervous about the dream’s approaching end, he can’t help but wish it could come faster so he can just wake up. “Hyung…” he groggily says as he wanders around. “Hyung where are you? I’m here~ right out in the open!” He dances around and shouts a bunch of nonsense, trying to get as much attention as he can. “Just come out…Speed up the process a bit will yah?” he says as he sits down to catch his breath. After a bit of rest, he gets up again, ready to run around again.

            “Why did you break your promise?” he hears a voice echo in the night air. “I trusted you.” “Don’t leave me.” The voices cause his ears to ring as the pop up from all directions at different noise levels. “Don’t forget who you are!” “Just kill me.” “I regret it. I regret everything!” “Taemin-ah, just die.” The voices come to a sudden halt as he feels a sharp pain in his lower abdomen. His breath hitches. It’s about time, he thinks to himself as he looks down, just to see an arrow with the name ‘Lee Jinki’ carved on it.

            He bitterly smiles to himself as each new step he took led to another arrow impaling into his body. Blood pours out of both his injuries and his mouth as the internal bleeding has made its way out. His knees buckle as he is about to reach his limit. “I trusted you,” he hears the unknown voice ring in his ear. “You will never get what you want!”

            Taemin’s eyes shoot open as he exits the dreamscape. Every time he had the nightmare, the words varied quite a bit, but the same incident remained: he was always shot to death by Onew’s arrows. He quickly shuts his eyes again as the sunlight stung his eyes. Slowly, he opened them to help them adjust to the brightness well. The first thing he clearly sees is the top of a cave. They successfully moved, good, he says with relief.

            His body aches but does not feel too tattered. He stiffly looked around and noticed that most of his smaller injuries have scarred up. Although he broke his arm to the point where his bone was protruding out, his injury has healed quite well. His arm just aches a bit and hurts if he where to carry something heavy. Mr. Dragon must’ve healed me…I always make him use his energy on me…Just as Taemin got up, he feels a bit of pain in his upper abdomen area and clutches it. He remembered that many of his ribs were also broken due to the energy blast, and thanked Mr. Dragon in his head once again for healing him. Thanks to his energy flow regaining itself without the chain impairing it, it was much easier and effective when he was healed.

            He looks around and sees that no one is in the room. No one is here? Aww usually when people are terribly injured and wake up, they’ll see a room full of people waiting for them. What’s with the empty room~ he whines. I know I healed really well but still~ How lonely…

            The little baby dragons waddle into the room just as he was about to get up. They all cry in their animalistic ways and rush toward him. Right before they crash into him with excitement, they remember their father’s warning: ‘Taemin is really hurt. You must be gentle with him.’

            The first dragon halts and the rest do so as well. Unfortunately, the fifth baby dragon remembered too late, and crashed right into his brothers. He flops over on top of them and they all topple over like little bowling pins. Although they have not developed enough power to gain a human form and voice, their cries sound almost like a little toddler, complaining and babbling nonsense. Seeing the little dragons rolling all over the ground, Taemin can’t help but laugh. With his uninjured arm, he picks them up and places them nicely on his lap.

            Forming something as close to a smile as possible with their dragon faces, the little ones stretch out their limbs and hug him softly. “Aww you all are so cute~” he pats their heads. “At least you’re here to greet me.”

            After a bit more of cuddling and playing around with the baby dragons, Taemin decided that he should get up to find Minho and Mr. Dragon. He wandered about and saw no one. He even passed through tents that the civilians set up and nests the monsters created, but they were nowhere to be found. After a long time of wandering, Taemin sits down and leans against a random tree to catch his breath. He is still healing after all. Suddenly, he hears a muffled cry.

~Comments are loved~

I wonder who the familiar person Taemin saw was???