Chapter 6. The Meeting

No one asked the reason for the dragon skin bracelets covering each of Jiyong’s forearms. It seemed simply as a strategy to look even more aggressive than how he already looked. And even more, some of the younger demons at the camp had started copying this new style of his. Wearing with unsuspecting pride what they thought was the new fashion style of one of their best fighters. But Jiyong moved around the camp with caution, a newly developed nervousness of being found; and sometimes even ashamed of what he had become.

The opportunity to leave the camp arrived soon. Esh gathered all the commanders and assigned them new missions. Jiyong’s small troop was sent to patrol the borders of the central Alpha camp. And so they did. His usual troop was small but efficient. And they had been working together since they were young and innocent and not yet smart or prepared enough. They had learned together, they had made mistakes together.

He had Soo Joo, the youngest of all them, who acted as their translator and omni-linguist. She knew the languages of the wind and the earth and the fire and all the other sounds that she only could distinguish above the normal silence. Youngbae was their tactician and battle strategist. Xin, had a reserved and mysterious nature, always covering his face with balaclavas and deep dark eyes staring at everything with a hint of bored disinterest; and yet he was the best at creating weapons out of nature and nothing else. He could survive any fight with nothing but his hands. Finally, they had Aigiel, their tracker. He was fast and silent, and doing what he did he wasn’t usually with them but miles away in front, smelling and sighting potent enemies.

The five of them worked perfectly. And even though Jiyong didn’t dare to brag about it, he felt proud nonetheless about the trust they had developed with each other over the years. They shared a sense of private loyalty for their team, one above the loyalty they could feel for the rest of the extremists.

“Last time I crossed these borders, there were more people out traveling through the highways,” SooJoo murmured from behind one of the trees. Next, to her, walked Xin muttering the sound of the same exact song he always sang when they all were out on a mission. The pinched expression on SooJoo’s face, while she looked up and down at Xin, was so customary of them both that none paid special attention to it, “Seriously Xin? Can you not shut up for five minutes?” she exploded.

Xin rolled his eyes and yawned, stretching his arms in front of his, arms heavily tattooed with numbers and strange symbols. His hair remained static even though the cold wind of the afternoon had started blowing with power through the woods floors.

“Why don’t you talk to the trees or something? I’ll be singing Thunderstruck even at my funeral,” Xin remarked as a matter of fact and let out a goofy grin. And making good of his words he started shouting at the top of his lungs, “Thunder! Thunder! Sound of the drums! Beating in my heart! Tore me apart!,” and jumping in front of SooJoo he screamed, “You’ve been Thunderstruck!” and with a beat of his wings, he made SooJoo stumble backward into a tree trunk.

“Oh, grow up!” SooJoo exclaimed frustrated, her black wings spread open and she bared her teeth.

Their bickering stopped when Jiyong halted his steps and squinted his eyes to the distance. Youngbae squatted down and tightened the muscles of his wings, concentrated. The soft whistling of Aigiel came at the distance. Like a bird chant, it echoed across the woods. SooJoo and Xin turned their eyes to the sky and became alerted.

“He found the walls,” SooJoo whispered, translating the whistling for the rest of them. Her eyes sharpening, focused on the blue above them, “He says we should camp here and patrol at this distance. Otherwise, they will track us if we come closer. He is joining us in a few hours once he makes sure the perimeter is safe,” She said and removed her eyes from the sky to wait for Jiyong’s orders.

Jiyong nodded and with a silent assessing look at Youngbae, he dropped his shoulder bag to the floor. “I guess this is the most we can do for now. Xin, you’ll patrol around tonight. Stay alert for any movements above us.”

“Sure, darling.” Xin yawned and dropped his weight to the floor.

They soon found themselves surrounded by darkness and the sounds of Nocturne animals creeping around covered by the lack of light. The blonde hair of SooJoo and the bright black with strips of red of Jiyong’s wings were all that stood up lightened by the dim light of their improvised fire. Soojoo was, once again, with her eyes unfocused listening at the multiple languages the night brought. Jiyong couldn’t understand why Esh had never understood the importance of her power. But Jiyong, once he met her, knew better. She was a tracker that did not need to move to locate her prey. As she said the first time he asked her about her abilities: “One only needs to listen to them talking. They always do, one way or another.”

“I only saw the usual tired as alpha moving in and out of the walls. They seem quieter than usual tho,” muttered Xin at his back, coming out from the bushes. His spiked hair stood out from the rest of the leaves and brushwood. Even his horns were heavily tattooed with symbols no one knew what they meant. He leaned and took some of the cans with water around the bonfire and packed them on his satchel. “By the way, Aigiel says you have to keep an eye on that fire.” Xin said, pointing at the flames with a scowl, “He says he got a slight scent of smoke up at the trees. Might attract some unwanted visitors,” he said but a naughty smile spread on his wings, “or maybe not that unwanted. I could do with some fun. This trip is being hell boring so far.”

Youngbae looked up from the usual book at his lap and scowled at him; with a frustrated shake of his head he stood up and grabbed some dirt from the ground and threw it on the fire, extinguishing it, “Go and patrol Xin. And please stay away from trouble, you pup.”

“We don’t need it anymore. We should sleep now,” he turned to look at Jiyong and SooJoo who were still sitting on the ground, “Tomorrow we will need to split into smaller teams to do our patrols. Jiyong, can you take care of the smoke?”

With one movement of Jiyong’s impressive wing, the smoke vanished in the air. He stood up and palmed Xin’s back, “Stay alert and go hunt a hare or something if it keeps you distracted enough, ok?” he said and moved to help the rest of the team on setting their tents.

“SooJoo,” Youngbae whispered after Xin was gone and the tents were set and ready to be used. His voice was lower than usual and that might have been the reason why SooJoo stopped from entering to her tent and looked back, with narrowed eyes.

“What’s up, boy?”

“We need… we need to talk,” Youngbae said, coming closer. Behind him, Jiyong stared at them. His wings, usually controlled, trashed nervously behind him. He tried unsuccessfully to get a grip on his body but the anxiousness was getting the best of him.

“Talk? Is everything ok, Yong?” She said looking up at Jiyong and straightening her back with all her impressive height, looking fiercer.

“Not really, Soo. There’s something…” Jiyong stumbled on his words and looked down. Gripping his forearm with caution he continued, “There’s something we need to talk about. I need your help.”

“Well, damn! You know you have it. You know it, right?” she said. Her eyes were now more focused and her eyebrows tightened together, “What’s up?”

“We need you to help us contact my brother,” Youngbae deadpanned.

“I got their mark on my arm,” said Jiyong at the same time, lifting the fabric of the bracelet around his forearm.

Seungri woke up in terrible pain. All his body and bones felt broken. There was something buzzing around him, multiple blurry sounds he couldn’t focus on. A hand touched his forehead. The cold was well received and he moaned at the touch.

“He’s waking up,” said a tender voice. He knew that voice from somewhere. A pang on his head convinced him that whoever it was it wasn’t worth a headache.

“I told you I don’t know Maeum. He suddenly out screaming in pain and scared the hell out of all of us,” said another deeper, harsher voice. He knew that voice too.

He let out a low grunt and tried to lift one of his hands. Oddly enough the hand answered him and moved up to cover his face.

“Hello, Lee Seunghyun. I’m Dara, your Krevati. I need you to stay in bed and rest as much as you can. I’ll be checking on you every hour. Please, nod or move your hand if you understood me.”

With a much louder grunt, he moved his hand up and down and let it fall