CHAPTER 6: IRON CURTAIN

A fruity smell permeated the dark room.

The five others held their breath.

Anticipated.

Hoped.

“Tastes like… grapes!” Kris smacked his lips.

They gave themselves a face-palm.

Is that all?

“G—G—Guys…”

 A curious feeling coiled inside Kris, added with an intense pain.

 “What’s happening?”

Baekhyun disappeared through the hole.

“Wait!” Kris yelled, doubled over in distress on the floor. “Don’t go!” He found himself shrinking rapidly. He was shutting up like a spyglass. No, this couldn’t be! Height is everything! He was all but a mobile tool, ready to be folded and kept in a pocket. How small would he shrink?

If he drank too much, he would shrink into oblivion.

Tao and Kai were seized in horror.

Eun-soo was shouting his name.

Lay became even more confident. Well, Kai’s hypothesis was accepted, so he had a good point there. Following Kris’s footsteps, Lay also took a sip of the drink. If it worked, the plan was perfect.

Sort of.

“Omo! This is soooo cute!” Eun-soo squealed high-pitched enough to split the frail house into two. She cupped the miniature Kris and Lay in her hands. “Omo! Omo! You two make pretty dolls!” she lifted Lay’s arm gently and little Kris on the head.

“Please stop, young lady.” Kris was annoyed. He tapped his foot impatiently. Lay responded with a little jig using his tiny feet. Tap-tap-tap. Eun-soo was greatly amused. She giggled and placed them back on the floor.

“Jal gayo~” Miniature Kai and Tao leapt over the glass shards and jumped into the square hole—leaving Eun-soo alone with the bottle.

“Don’t leave me alone here!” Eun-soo grabbed the bottle and drank it with courage. This is going to work, she told herself. The process done, she closed her eyes and jumped. The bravery of a paratrooper seeped through her.

When I used to read fairy-tales, little did I know that I would end up in one—I should consider writing a parable of my life!

She opened them back.

The effects wore off as soon as they get past the hole. They were back in their respective sizes. That was the least of her worries, as they were sliding down a tunnel lined with ancient runes like children at play.

“Wee!” Tao yelped, this time in delight. “I’m going to reach the destination first!”

“No!” Kris propelled himself forward. “I shall win!”

“No, no, you won’t!”

“Ha—ha! I want to see you try!”

“Eat my dust!”

And so, Eun-soo's expectation of a tough, manly warrior was shattered. He's the Dragon Warrior, mind you!

After what felt like an eternity of childish noises later, the tunnel was getting brighter. The light was familiar, though. It was of a warm blue colour, swirling slowly in circles like a child’s nightlight. Perhaps that was what ‘the light at the end of the tunnel’ means—the tunnel was coming to an end.

“Yes! I won!” Tao celebrated his triumph over Kris. Celebrated isn’t the right word, either. Not this time. He was thrown off the tunnel and landed with a big ‘splash’.

Five screams and five splashes, and all their dreams turned to ashes.

The six of them were submerged underwater.

Kai called out for his friends. His call made no sound whatsoever, only bubbles flew out of his mouth. “Blup! Blup!” He started to regret doing so. He was only wasting his oxygen supply. Ah, as if he had any! Lay was holding his hand, eyes closed, unconscious, slipping from his grasp. Kai shook Lay to wake him up, knowing fully well that he would end up wasting his oxygen supply again. Why bother? He was willing to risk his life for a comrade. Kai shook and shook. Lay’s eyes opened, then closed, then opened, then closed…

Kris swam his way upwards and tried to reach for the surface.

“Blast!”

The surface was there, but beyond his reach. The only way out had frozen over. He had to break thick layers of ice in order to break through. No other means of escape were available. Time is ticking, or tricking like water-drops. He punched the layers of ice with all his strength, to no avail. He wished that he could fly through the ice, blasting a hole of any kind—alas, there wasn’t much space, the water friction was killing him and he was breathless and weak. He just got weaker and weaker.

He dug his fingernails into the white Iron Curtain: a divide between the old world and the new. He dug deeper. His tears of frustration became one with the ocean.

Eun-soo dove further down for a better solution out of this problem. She kicked her legs around to delve deeper into the sea and kicked something hard by accident. A skull fell down a rock and disappeared in blackness.

A bad omen!

Underneath her, a carcass of a dodo bird was mummified by barnacles clinging to it. A half-eaten fish with beads for eyes dashed away from its disjointed mouth. The dodo was holding a card.

A bloated, torn eaglet drifted past her. It croaked under its breath in her face, revealing a beak smothered with black sludge. The eaglet was also holding a card.

A lone human ribcage was stuck on her left foot. The same card was stuck between the ribs. She picked it up without hesitation.

It was an ace of hearts. At the back of the card, the words “Resistance of Shuffling Decks” was written. The name struck a chord in her brain, reviving a memory she couldn’t recall. The lack of oxygen kept her memories too far from each other.

A polka-dot pattern danced at the back of her eyes. Her lungs were burning. The agony grew more excruciating with each passing second. Realisation set in.

Drowning is one of the worst ways to die.

“You’re not drowning.”

She felt a pair of soft cold hands holding her tight. There was a man: his big, deep-set eyes were round and dark, deeper and darker than the ocean itself. His face was round and white. He was the beautiful face of eternal youth in her time of dying.

Eun-soo buried her face in his chest and slipped away.

A/N: I’m having a roller-coaster ride writing this piece! Please, tell me how you feel. Was it worth your precious time? The Duchess is waiting for you, I fear. Sweet dreams!

-HCl