CHAPTER 10: BLISSKRIEG

Black shapes were painted on the uneven walls of the cave as people moved about. The silhouettes were warped, grotesque outlines of the owners' physiques. As a child, Eun-soo would hide under her blanket and hold her teddy-bear Mimi close to her when one of these silhouettes descend like black waterfalls down her closet. She had been an easily-frightened, naive little thing back then, before her innocence gave way to knowing, and before her height surpassed her mother's. She felt bigger and stronger, but never braver.

Such a thing was childhood, when small things in life brought her much joy, knowing nothing at all. She could smile at the bright morning sun, rejoice in desserts and giggle in the rain. Notwithstanding what came, she would always find happiness in something. Time passed and the good feeling was robbed from her.

Why don't you just enjoy your stay in Wonderland? She asked herself. Look at that! An interesting sight! It was raining in Wonderland. It wasn't an ordinary rain, however. Water from Above seeped through the ground and fell down on Wonderland as rain.

The Wonderland rain had not the watermelony smell of the normal Above rain, but it smelled so fresh and somewhat earthy—like how the first rain ever fallen on Earth would smell like.

After days of clear weather, the tip-a-tap of heavy rain sounded more like revenge.

Why won't you just stand, stare and enjoy the scenery?

You won't be able to relish the same luxury up Above.

Several meters in front of her, a better scenery is about to unfold.

Suho brushed his water-drop locket with his thumb. His mouth was mumbling something she couldn't hear. Whoosh! Torrents of water shot up from the lake. A massive crystalline sphere of water enveloped him like a cocoon, and a cocoon it was! A different Suho stepped down from the sphere, decently clothed in a blue robe with a pair of bare feet peeping underneath.

Wow.

"Shall we begin?" Suho stood in front of Kris, standing half a head shorter than the latter.

Un-wow.

"As you wish." Kris stretched and popped his neck and fingers, proving how ready he was.

"Listen carefully, now." said Suho, demanding Kris's attention. "For beginners, feel the flow of your blood, its gushing sound like thousands of rivers under your skin. Try to synchronise the flow of water around you with the flow of your blood. Let it be in harmony with the resonance of your heartbeat."

In response to Suho's explicit instructions, Kris made a wave with his arms, ending it with an annoying pointing gesture at Suho.

Suho gave himself a face-palm. "No, not like that!"

Kris made a wave with his arms again, much to Suho's dismay.

"Yah! I'm the Guardian of the Lake!" Suho cried out. "Do not ignore me!"

And Kris gave him a wicked wink.

"Aishh, this Dragon Warrior!" Suho did his best to maintain his self-composure as the Guardian of the Lake. Besides, he was maintaining his 'status' as one of the top leaders of the Resistance of Shuffling Decks. "Please pay attention, Kris." he said in a semi-defeated tone.

"Fine." Kris tried to make use of Suho's instructions and vowed to succeed. He closed his eyes, struggling to be in harmony with all the water surrounding him.

"That's more like it!" approved Suho.

Kris lifted his index finger. Spheres of water flew towards him. With all his might, he channelled the collected water energy to hit his target, a straw dummy with a cardboard crown made by Kai and Lay. Grunts and various sound effects later, only a little squirt was shot... to Suho's face. Suho wiped his wet face with a sigh.

"Ah, perhaps water is not my style after all!" Kris dropped his head with a bitter expression across his face.

"Don't be like that. It's not that you have no ability at all to master the water element." Suho coaxed Kris. "You just have to learn. A master must begin somewhere. It's your responsibility as a Dragon Warrior to master as many elements as you could."

Meanwhile, Eun-soo was busying herself decorating the untouched straw dummy. With her finishing touches (pun not intended), it resembled a handicraft more than a training dummy.

"Eun-soo ah!" Suho called out for her.

"Yes?" came the reply.

"Can you please take Kris for a stroll outside? This frustrated soul needs a break."

"All right, Suho oppa." Eun-soo took Kris's hand in hers. "We'll be back shortly!"

"Take care!" Suho waved at both of them and jumped back into the lake as a merman he was.

"Things are getting hard for us, I see." Kris said to Eun-soo. "We're clueless, luckless and reckless."

Oh, dear! Since Suho had told her of her task as the Key of Fire, Eun-soo felt a little uneasy having an excursion with Kris. Deep in her heart, this excursion felt very wrong—especially when Kris pulled her by the arm.

"There's not much to see here, but standing still is no fun." Kris urged her to move like a boy pestering his mother in a shopping mall. Eun-soo thought twice. It wasn't so bad either. I mean, look at Kris. He's so eager for a stroll.

She paced faster and led him out of the cave, far from the lake and further from the Mermaid Cove. They walked, talked and laughed. She wasn't a good conversationalist, but she was good enough to prevent Kris from dying of boredom. But it was Eun-soo who did most all the talking and all of the laughing. Kris was only paying a minuscule attention to her. Perhaps, he was still enraged by his inability to master the water element. That was only a minor setback, nonetheless. Everything was okay so far, though their surroundings were somewhat chilly.

They felt something small and cold dripping on their heads. Maybe it's just a raindrop left from the early morning rain.

Or maybe not.

Eun-soo and Kris looked up and saw a ten-foot-tall snowman with buttons for eyes and thorny twigs for arms. Its nose was a whirring automatic drill ready to bore through bone.

Kris drew out his sword.