“I am sorry, Chanyeol. Only one of us can rule, and it will be me.”

Those words had been ingrained into his memory, ever since the day when his once beloved brother had banished him to the other realm. Like his appearance, so strikingly different from the dark looks of the rest of the royal family, Prince Chanyeol had always been bright, a veritable spark of fire. With his arrival, the once silent palace corridors had rung with ebullient laughter, the shrill childish peals becoming deeper and richer as the boy blossomed into manhood. In those days, nothing pleased the carefree young prince more than to ride his favourite stallion across the steppes, brilliant auburn locks tossing in the wind, when arid desert was still fertile grassland and the city of Akash was but a dream of the distant future. But while Chanyeol frolicked, he was oblivious to the jealous glances and muttered curses directed his way, under cover of shadow and night. That was his undoing.

“Serenity!”

The day had begun like any other. The youth attempting  to stealthily sneak out of the castle grounds for an impromptu hunting trip halted in his tracks. Slowly swivelling his head, the prince’s nervous smile transformed into a wide grin upon seeing his flustered attendant.

“Oh, it’s just you, Sebastian. Whatever is the matter?”

“Your brother requests your immediate presence in the great hall. He sounded quite agitated.”

“I see….In that case, I suppose I will have to postpone my hunting trip.”

“Quickly, Serenity! You of people know your brother is an impatient man.”

When he arrived in the hall, he found his brother nonchalantly reclining in the throne positioned on the raised dais at the far end of the room. The coveted seat was reserved exclusively for the sovereign of the kingdom, and Chanyeol internally frowned to see the other so presumptuously occupying their absent father’s seat. Nevertheless, Chanyeol said nothing of it and greeted the elder with courtesy.

“What is troubling you, hyung? Sebastian said you had to see me urgently?”

“Ah, Chanyeol, you have come at last.”

Without waiting for a reply, the older man gave a command, and, in an instant, men cloaked in robes of midnight black swarmed in from the chambers behind the throne and into the hall. They formed a tight circle around Chanyeol and began chanting in an alien tongue that grated against his ears.

Caught completely off guard, Chanyeol could only utter incredulously “What is the meaning of this?!”

“This, my dear ignorant brother, is magic.”

“Ma-magic?! What insanity are you spouting? Have you been reading from the forbidden section of the library again? ”

“Insanity? Hah! Yes, that’s what our dear ancestors would have liked us to believe.  But you will soon see.”

Only a few seconds had passed when the air began to crackle with electricity and sparks flew where a dark stain appeared on the immaculate marble floor, growing larger with every tortured syllable of the cloaked men’s insidious incantation. The rapid dilation of the void was mirrored in his own brown orbs, now wide with fear. Bewildered, Chanyeol cried out in a panicked voice to the strange robed men.

“Whatever you are doing, I command you to stop!”

“Your expression is priceless. But your orders fall on deaf ears, Chanyeol. They are my loyal servants, and will not listen to you.” It was true. Now that he looked closely, the robes of the men bore a familiar embroidered crest over the heart - a silver sickle moon on a field of midnight blue.

The chanting had stopped, and almost immediately Chanyeol felt a strange, invisible force pull on his body, which brought him down harshly to his knees. Inches away from the darkness.

“Please, brother! Why are you doing this? ”

His sibling spoke in a quiet voice, his tone light and pleasant. But his eyes were hard crystals, steeped in hatred as they delighted in the stricken expression of his nemesis. “You know, Chanyeol. I quite like this view of you. On your knees and groveling, where you belong. Begging for clemency.”

“Please...stop.” Tears streaked down his face. The minute hole had become a huge chasm, swirling with unknown forces. Half delirious with terror, Chanyeol screamed as he found himself being pulled towards its edge. His nails cracked and bled as he clawed futilely at the smooth stone floor scrabbling to get some sort of purchase, but he could not fight against the inevitable.

“I bid thee farewell, dear brother. Should fortune smile on you, your death will be quick and relatively painless. However, considering what I’ve heard about the beasts that lurk on the other side, I highly doubt that.”

The spell was complete.

With a final cry of anguish, he was swallowed into the immeasurable darkness. The smooth unblemished marble surface of the floor returned, as if the portal never was.

“So dawns a new age. A new age of glory, and power. A new age of magic. My reign has begun.”

...

Chanyeol woke up flat on his back, disoriented and with his head pounding. He inhaled a deep breath, but almost immediately choked as his throat and lungs filled with the noxious fumes of sulphur and brimstone. Gingerly sitting up, he opened his throbbing eyelids, and let out a hoarse scream.

Like a scene from a nightmare, his vision was filled with a horde of fiends, devils, monsters leering at him. Out of instinct, his right hand immediately flew to his side. However, he felt nothing. No sword, no dagger, not even his  trusty hunting knife. No weapon. Defenseless.

The creatures chittered in excitement as they advanced. Chanyeol could only drag himself backwards, crying out with every motion as his body grazed over small rocks, which scraped and bit into his delicate flesh.

He was not moving fast enough.

...

When he next awoke, bruised and bloody, he was in a bed. In front of him, a fire crackled merrily away in a rough fireplace that looked as if it had been carved straight out of smooth obsidian walls. Was this a cave of some sort?

Clearly he had fainted when that first thing had leapt on his chest. Thankfully, it seemed that whoever, or whatever had brought him here had arrived just in time before irreparable damage could be done. He was not left alone with his thoughts for long however when a soft voice interrupted the silence - “Well would you look at this, the human is awake.”

Chanyeol jolted violently at the noise and instantly regretted his reflexes. His whole body was on fire; every nerve ending awakening at once.

“Who - who are you? Where is this? Is this that hell that the priests speak of?” He croaked out weakly, squinting into the darkness of the alcove to the left of the fireplace, out of reach of its warm halo of light.

“You may call it that, I suppose. The name matters naught. But it is indeed a forsaken place, long lost from the memories of men.”

The owner of the soft voice emerged from the gloom. With his hazy vision, Chanyeol could only make out eyes that glimmered in the dimness. Shining, violet orbs, such as he had never seen before. The stranger continued.

“And