Chapter 17. I don't care

The next two days went by too fast for Seungri’s liking. Between their long journeys, their training, and sleeping he barely had had a sense of the days passing by. The good thing was that he was getting much better at dodging and beating Seunghyun during their training; not so much Aigiel who remained as unpredictable as ever. Although, the one that had surprised everyone by his ability with the bow was Daesung; who, just a day after starting his training, had almost hurt Xin with one arrow perfectly aimed at the demon’s head. The demon, though, had immediately snarled and chased Daesung all through the camp. An event everyone tried not to talk about as to not motivate the young angel to fall again into a panicked state. It had taken almost an hour to convince Daesung to let go of Layl. Seunghyun had been the one that had, as his Alpha, interceded and tackled the angry demon to the ground.

However, such aggressive behavior had not gone unnoticed by the Alphas and the rest of demons. Minzy and Layl now stepped cautiously around the newcomer demon, always attentive eyes following his movements. Even Maeum who had been tolerant with the demon since his arrival barely talked or engaged with Xin; and he always was around Seungri, never letting the demon be alone with the angel. Only SooJoo seemed to not notice the amount of tension Xin’s presence was causing within the group. A tension that had dimly weakened when Xin had admitted of being the one that had sent the note when they were at Galim refugees’ town. The note that had been sneaked inside one of the supply baskets and had warned them about the presence of extremists.

“I am on your side!” Xin had almost snarled when Minzy and Maeum frowned, unbelieving.

Youngbae and Jiyong, though, had looked conflicted. The long years of friendship with the demon seemed to hinder their ability to have a warier judgment towards Xin.

After two days of traveling they had finally stopped, but this time it was no longer to rest and recover. They were standing in complete silence, weapons prepared and cautious eyes roaming all around the forest, fear in everyone’s eyes. They had finally reached the northern borders. While they had not yet crossed the last and final Ogden Canyon, which separated Shinshi from the unknown lands of the north, they were already too close inside forest lands rarely populated and explored. The forest looked the same as usual, if not for an appalling silence that screamed nothing but danger. Aigiel was the most agitated of all, constantly twitching his wings, having the need to fly around, sensing a strange presence but unable to locate it.

“It’s the dark magic of these forests,” Layl had whispered, her eyes shone dark, fascinated by her surroundings.

They were no longer flying, except for the trackers. They continued traveling by foot, walking through the dense foliage who seemed to get wilder and denser at every step they took. The air had a thick scent of herbs, foliage, and unpolluted ground, attesting the lack of civilization inside those lands. Aigiel whistle cut through the trees and stopped their tracks abruptly. All of them knew that his whistle was the signal that he had found something. Jiyong and Seunghyun stood at the front, Maeum, and Youngbae at the back, all of them ready to fight. Seungri saw SooJoo for the first time after getting hurt, kneeling on the ground and touching the grass, using her powers to listen.

“He is ok. He is coming back,” SooJoo murmured to Youngbae, looking exhausted at having used energy to feed her Omni-linguist powers.

They waited until the tracker landed with a heavy thud a few meters away from the group.

“It’s a camp of survivors”, Aigiel exclaimed the moment he landed, “There are around thirty angels and demons. I even saw a couple of Alphas.”

“A survivor’s group? We should try to make contact” Seunghyun exclaimed, there was kind of raw excitement in his voice, even a hint of desperation if you looked closely at the brilliance of his eyes. The Alpha angel immediately started walking, but Maeum stopped him from one arm, “What?” the Alpha raised one eyebrow.

“They won’t receive them kindly,” Maeum said, looking at Jiyong, Youngbae, SooJoo, and Xin, “They will think they are extremists. We can’t just suddenly appear and expect them to receive us with open arms.”

Seunghyun frowned at that, the reality finally reached his excited mind. They were a strange group, unusual, unheard of. Seunghyun’s shoulders slumped, he let out a frustrated sigh.

“What do you suggest then?” he asked, looking at Maeum.

“We can try to convince them,” Youngbae scowled, running his fingers under his jaw pensive, “Although that didn’t work with the last town of angels we encountered. Did it?” he frowned and turned his eyes towards Jiyong. They looked at each other for a second, until Youngbae’s eyes suddenly lit up and he gasped, a smile slowly spreading on his lips.

“We can show them Jiyong’s mark,” he exclaimed and looked at Maeum, who was now also sporting a surprised, bright expression on his face.

“That could work,” Maeum nodded and approached Jiyong, silently asking for him to show them his mark.

Jiyong’s eyebrows pinched and he drew his arm behind his back, hesitant. His eyes traveled from Maeum to Youngbae and finally rested on Seungri. With a sigh, he slowly extended his arm in front of him revealing his Two Third mark.

“If we are careful at explaining this to them it might be easier to win their trust,” Maeum muttered, running a finger over Jiyong’s mark. Jiyong’s fingers twitched, uncomfortable.

It caught Seungri by surprise the immediate need to take Maeum’s hand away from Jiyong’s arm; he bit his lower lip in an attempt not to scream to the Alpha angel to take his hands away from the mark. Somehow, though, Seungri and Jiyong’s eyes met, as though both could feel each other’s uneasiness at Maeum’s invasion.

“Your friend will need to look at least a bit friendly for that to work,” Minzy snarled, eyes sending daggers to where Xin was standing. A deep, disgusted frown was permanently glued on the demon’s face. Xin snarled at her back, showing his fangs.

“Xin,” SooJoo intervened, her jaw clenched and she moved closer to the demon to placate him. Her wings softly graced Xin’s tense ones until Xin’s eyes turned to look at her, anger gone.

“SooJoo will make sure he behaves,” Youngbae said, serious eyes met Xin’s, a message exchanged between both demons. Then Youngbae turned to look back at Maeum.

“You all should go first. You are the Alphas after all. Locate who oversees the group and explain him or her about us. Send Minzy back for us once you think they won’t kill us at sight.”

Maeum nodded, adjusting the vest around his waist and signing the rest of Alphas, Daesung, and Seungri to follow him.

“Wait!” Seungri found himself raising his voice. His feet were glued to the floor and he sent a hesitant look at Maeum who was staring at him, eyebrows raised, “Is just,” he scratched his right arm where the Two Third mark was imprinted on his skin. With a deep breath, he straightened his shoulders and continued, “I believe it is best if I and Daesung stay with them. Layl can’t also stay here with us,” he suggested, giving a quick glance to the female Alpha angel.

“I just think it would give a stronger impression if an angel like us,” Seungri added, pointing at his chest and wings, and then at Daesung, “… arrive accompanied by all these demons. If we can show them our trust in them”, his eyes wandered to the place Jiyong was and a shy smile spread on his lips while his eyes softened, “Maybe the rest of the survivors will find it easier to trust in them too,” he whispered. His eyes were still fixed on Jiyong’s dark ones. In the silence of their eyes both demon and angel shared a private secret. Seungri blushed and dropped his eyes to the floor.

“That sounds like a good idea,” Layl smiled. Similar murmurs of agreement came from the rest of the angels and demons. Even Seunghyun looked surprisingly pleased with the suggestion, to which Seungri’s eyes widened surprised.

Maeum also drew a small satisfied smile on his lips and nodded, “Ok.” Then he turned his eyes to Youngbae “Minzy will be back for you as soon as possible then. All of you,” he added, his eyes lingering just for a moment on Xin’s withdrawn figure and finally on Seungri.

The Alphas walked through the forest. Minzy was at the front of their small troop, making way through the dense foliage and using the tracker abilities she had learned from Aigiel to identify the correct pathways. After half an hour of walking, they heard it. The sounds of a bow being drawn and the murmured orders of what could only be an Alpha giving instructions to soldiers. They knew they had been spotted. Seunghyun gestured Maeum to move to the left, while he unsheathed his sword and replaced Minzy at the front. Minzy drew back, two small knives on each hand. While they did not wish to engage in a fight, they had to be prepared to defend themselves.

It happened too quickly. A female angel attacked Seunghyun first, tackling him to the ground with a deep growl. An arrow barely grazed Minzy’s head if not for the female demon quick reflexes. She crunched to the ground, prepared for the collision that soon followed when a male demon pushed her by her right side. Maeum took flight, meeting mid-air with another male demon. It was all on Seunghyun, to find a moment to introduce himself within the chaos and show their attackers they were not a danger.

“Adra?” the voice of an exhausted Seunghyun soon raised from the grunts and growls. The female angel stopped her movements and finally an air of recognition crossed her face.

“Seunghyun? Oh!” the female Alpha said, which gathered the attention from the rest of her soldiers who also stopped their fights and turned to look at their leader. Minzy and Maeum sighed, relieved that the fight had ended quickly.

“What are you doing here? Maeum?” the female Alpha, named Adra, looked behind Seunghyun with wide open eyes.

“I suppose the same as you,” Seunghyun answered with a sad smile and he sheathed his sword back.

A multitude of emotions crossed Adra’s face too quickly, her wings flattened, her chin trembled in anger and she shook her head slowly. Her eyes were full of defeat.

“We couldn’t do anything else,” Adra sighed and she raised her eyes from the floor, “Many from our garrison died in the fight, burned,” she gulped, “White smoke. Some of us are leading survivors away from Shinshi. Others…” her lips curled showing her fangs, “Others don’t deserve their title anymore,” she spat out, her eyes turning cold.

“How many of you?” Maeum finally approached, his eyes focused on the two other Alphas standing tall, now at each side of Adra.

“Joa, Mour,” she introduced the Alpha soldiers, “Other two at the camp. Four Alphas in total and me.”

“Survivors? How many survivors?” Minzy asked, bowing to each of the soldiers with a kind smile. She recognized them. Both Joa and Mour were still trainees at the camp when she had last been there. She had even trained them a couple of times. The Alpha soldiers blushed at that and bowed back.

“We are leading a group of 25 survivors. Couples with kids and some youngsters. Are you alone?” Adra asked, her eyebrows pinched in curiosity.

“No,” Maeum shook his head, “Layl is also with us.”

A pleased smile appeared on Adra’s face and her eyes shone with excitement, “She is ok?”

Maeum nodded.

“How many survivors are you leading?” one of the Alpha soldiers, Joa, asked.

“Well…You could say two,” Seunghyun rubbed the back of his neck, “But that is the thing. We aren’t traveling alone...”

A few miles away from them, the group of demons waited. Although Youngbae had seemed convinced of their plan, at every minute that passed without Minzy coming back his face lost a tiny bit of composure and his wings became more restless. Jiyong was playing with a knife between his hands, a vacant expression on his face. Xin was sitting far away against one tree trunk, murmuring a song, the usual disdainful sneer still plastered on his face.

“I saw you use your powers,” Seungri whispered, sitting next to SooJoo who was massaging her temples with her eyes closed.

The demon opened her eyes slowly and blinked a few times before answering, “It drained me of energy. I thought I was already strong enough to use them.”

Seungri frowned, “That is why you have not been using them?”

SooJoo nodded, looking at her hands and she closed her eyes again, taking a long breath, “My body used a lot on energy to heal. Using my powers is usually tiring but I don’t usually get this affected,” she sighed and let her head fall over Seungri’s shoulder.

They waited for almost an hour. Only the sounds of the forest interrupted the silence between them. There was tension all around them, a sense of fear of being dejected. Seungri could see it in every one of them. Maybe even, judging by their slumped figures, there was even guilt in their faces. Aigiel was the first one to stand up, eyes focused on the patch of trees in front of him.

“There are steps approaching,” he explained and his eyes narrowed, “There’s more than one Alpha coming.”

Jiyong immediately got up, grasping the knife tightly. With his intimidating wings extended behind his back, he placed himself in front of Seungri and Daesung; covering them from view. SooJoo and Youngbae stood on his side. Xin remained where he was, only now his back straightened, looking intently at the same patch of