Drabble 39: Shadows Underwater

“Surrender,” Yifan said calmly as he softly nudged Junmyeon’s throat with the tip of his staff. “You can’t run any longer.”

Junmyeon glared up at him, his eyes hard and cold. “Is that what you think?”

Yifan barely had a moment to react before the earth slid out from beneath and he fell backwards. Two of his clansmen caught him by the arms before he hit the ground, but by the time the three of them struggled to their feet Junmyeon had vanished. The ground beneath them was muddy, but a few feet away it was dry. The Water Clan hadn’t been joking when they said the Kim line were their strongest magic users.

Yifan laughed and sighed. “He’s a feisty one.” The crew of men he had with them shook their heads in agreement; but none of them asked for the hunt to come to an end. Yifan knew that they trusted him; and he knew that Junmyeon was the one they’d been searching for.

“He can’t have gone far. We keep looking until the sun sets.” Yifan planted his staff in the mud and his men raised their fists in response.

“And when the sun sets?” Yifan’s cousin, Jongin, smiled sharply.

Yifan gave him the same dangerous smile in response. “Then he’s ours,” Yifan said simply. “The shadows will come to our aid.”

The men nodded in agreement and the small party continued to search the forest. Yifan knew that Junmyeon couldn’t have gone far; his leg had been injured when they’d first encountered him, and he was sure to be low on stamina and have possibly accrued more injuries during the chase.

Yifan sent his shadows out to search; the sun was already setting, and his shadows were quite useful in the forest. They fanned out to the edge of a soft hill when Yifan froze. He slowly turned towards a large rock at the edge of the hill and stealthily made his way over to it. He held his hand up; he would face Junmyeon alone. Better that Junmyeon accept defeat at his hand alone, rather than be humiliated in front of five strange men.

Inside, his shadows whispered. There is a man inside.

Yifan went around the rock and found a small opening. He crawled inside, and found himself at the end of a dark passageway.

Members of the Shadow Clan did not fear the dark. How far is the man within? Yifan asked.

The passageway does not go far. He is at the end.

“My thanks,” Yifan said aloud, and released his hold on the shadows to allow them to leave and play as they wished. He started down the passageway. As he went further in, the ground became wetter and muddier, but Yifan persisted, using his shadow staff to help him get to the end of the tunnel.

As the shadows had promised, Junmyeon was at the end of the tunnel. He sat at the base of an eight-foot tall statue of a woman with a light in each hand. Yifan stopped short when he saw the statue; Junmyeon had taken refuge at the feet of Yura, the guardian deity of the water clan.

Junmyeon laughed, shadows dancing wildly across his face in the flickering light of Yura’s hands. “What will you do now, Shadow Warrior? You cannot touch me here.”

Yifan resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “You think Yura is invincible?” Yifan reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pouch. Within the pouch were three grimflower blooms that he had been given for this very purpose: capturing Junmyeon. He carefully pulled the three flowers out of the pouch, and smiled when he saw the eyes of the statue follow his hands.

Junmyeon faltered when he felt the surge of power flow out of the statue. “What are you doing?” Junmyeon tried to get to his feet, but fell when his knee collapsed beneath him. “What strange enchantment are you using?!”

“No enchantment. Yifan approached the offering plate five feet from the base of the statue. There was already a small blue stone on the plate; Yifan guessed that that was Junmyeon’s offering as a request for refuge.

Yifan placed the three grimflower blooms on the plate and the statue shuddered and sighed. Junmyeon cried out as the strong stone arms of the statue lifted him from its base and carried him to rest beside the offering plate.

Yifan looked away as Junmyeon began to cry. “Have you no mercy?” Junmyeon begged his goddess. “You would trade me away?”

The mouth of the statue moved, and a musical voice resonated through the passageway. “The shadow warrior is wise,” Yura told Junmyeon. “It is an old pact between the gods and men. If a man can offer three grimflowers, then we must grant him his desire.”

Junmyeon shuddered and sobbed, and Yifan kept his eyes averted.

“Junmyeon, I have always favored you,” Yura said softly. “Yet you were always destined for the land of the shadows.”

Junmyeon’s shaky sobs reverberated through the passageway, and Yifan allowed himself to raise his eyes. Junmyeon was curled up in Yura’s large stone palms, his face turned towards the face of his goddess.

“I will give you protection from the shadows.” A soft blue glow appeared near Junmyeon’s face, and Yifan watched with interest as Junmyeon cupped it with his hands and seemed to swallow it. “Do not lose all hope, Junmyeon. I am always where you least expect it.” The great stone hands gently opened, allowing Junmyeon to slide down onto the ground. The statue of Yura straightened up and returned to her original pose. Her eyes went from a burning blue back to dark stone, and Yifan knew that he and Junmyeon were alone once more.

Yifan’s eyes widened in alarm when he realized that there was a pulsing blue glow emitting from Junmyeon’s chest and neck. He rushed forward to kneel by Junmyeon’s side, but Junmyeon’s body rose up several feet in the air, his back arched gracefully as he spiraled up towards the ceiling. Junmyeon’s eyes were closed and his expression was serene.

Six feet into the air, the blue light suddenly burst, and Junmyeon slowly fell back to the ground. Yifan caught him in his arms and checked his pulse. For all appearances, Junmyeon seemed to be alive, but unconscious.

Yifan hefted Junmyeon in his arm along with his staff and began making his way out of the tunnel. The ground was significantly drier as he made his way back, and Yifan carefully rolled Junmyeon through the opening beneath the stone, and then carefully climbed out over him.

His clansmen helped him to hoist Junmyeon onto his back so that his arms and legs were wrapped around Yifan’s torso. Yifan steadied his grip on his shadow staff with one arm and made sure Junmyeon’s weight was secure with the other.

When Yifan was ten, it had been prophesied that he would take a River Clan magic user as his bride. According to the soothsayer, it would be the first water user that he would ever meet. The soothsayer had gifted him three grimsflowers shortly afterward, and had warned him of their perilous destiny ahead.

That water user was Junmyeon, and their meeting was the start of a long and perilous destiny that awaited them both.

a/n: I like this idea a lot. I'm tempted to turn it into a full fic later on.

Updates to the Mama Au should be posted by the end of the week. I hope you all enjoyed this drabble and thanks for reading! <3