13 // The Capital

 

 

"Is this the girl?"

 

Yumi pinched her brow slightly as her mind slowly returned to consciousness. Her eyelids were feeling too heavy to lift so she left them closed. *Why am I always being knocked out…*

 

"Yes," came the short reply.

 

There was a small pause. "Doesn't she look a little too vulnerable for an all-powerful Guardian of... what was it again? Water?"

 

She felt her eye twitch. Was this guy calling her weak?

 

A low chuckle followed. "Baekhyun got her from behind. And don't be fooled by her appearance. This girl's a fighter."

 

"Woah, then I'd better watch my back. Wouldn't want her catching me off guard with flying streams of water. What's it like fighting a Guardian anyway, Yeol?"

 

Chanyeol sent him an amused look. "You know, you might just find out for yourself." He turned to look at where Yumi was lying in the wooden cart. "Looks like she's waking up."

 

"Wait what? Really?"

 

Yumi hadn't planned on letting them know that she was already awake, but she couldn't help but grimace at the sharp pain in her head. With no other choice, she finally opened her eyes and saw two pairs of eyes peering down at her. Chanyeol, she knew. But the other guy, she hadn't seen before. He was tall like his comrade and had brown hair that hung neatly above his eyes. Despite having a mature appearance, he seemed to carry about him an air of youthfulness.

 

She sat up quickly while clutching her now bandaged head and cautiously studied her environment. She seemed to be in some sort of courtyard within someone's property. On the ground not too far from her was a large double-rimmed circle around 5 metres in diameter. It looked like some sort of circle used for spells, with the space between the inner and outer rims filled with writing of Chinese characters. But the inner circle itself was empty.

 

Chanyeol's comrade gave her a smile. "Hello Miss Guardian, it's nice to meet you. I'm Sehun."

 

Yumi eyed him weirdly and shrunk away from him. He looked somewhat hurt.

 

"What? Am I that intimidating?"

 

She ignored him and stared up at Chanyeol. "Don't you think it's time that you at least told me why you'd want to capture a Guardian?"

 

"I told you, I just carry out orders without asking why," he replied. "But you'll find out soon enough anyway."

 

The spellcaster pulled out a yellow paper talisman and held it up before him in his index and middle fingers. He chanted a short spell and Yumi watched as the paper glowed a golden yellow. She gasped as her hands and feet were instantly pulled together, being covered and bound together by the same shade of golden yellow.

 

"What are you doing?!"

 

"What I was supposed to do from the very beginning."

 

Yumi scowled at him. Her efforts from before felt even more futile than it did before. He was actually fully capable of using his spells to subdue her all of this time.

 

"You're about to see the leaders of this nation," Chanyeol continued, "so I can't afford to let you go off rampaging like you did before."

 

Shock filled her eyes. *The… leaders?*

 

The double doors of a nearby building swung open to reveal yet another young man clad in similar dark combat clothing. Another KangRang soldier.

 

Chanyeol and Sehun bowed to their superior. "Suho," they greeted.

 

He nodded back in acknowledgement. "We have been summoned by the Imperial Courts," he glanced over at Yumi, "along with the Guardian. Let's go now."

 

Sehun picked her up in his arms and walked over to the strange circle on the ground with the others. She writhed around in his arms.
 

"Hey, don't touch me!"

 

He looked at her with a hint of confusion. "Then how am I supposed to carry you?"

 

Yumi narrowed her eyes at him, and found herself widening them immediately when the circle around them started glowing multi-coloured. She looked over at Chanyeol and Suho who were both making an upside down 'T' symbol with their hands as they chanted a short spell. The empty inner circle was now burning a deep red-coloured symbol that Yumi guessed must have been the sign of KangRang - a flaming dragon. It wasn't long before the light around them grew and teleported them somewhere else, leaving behind nothing but a small gust of wind.

 

When the glow finally subsided, Yumi could see that they were now in the middle of a much larger open space, lined on both sides with soldiers wielding a variety of weapons. On the ground they were standing on was yet another spell-rimmed circle identical to the one that had sent them here. And in front of them were what looked like high-ranking officials seated comfortably at the top of a flight of stairs that led to a large, red-rimmed building like the ones you would see in ancient dynasties. Sitting in the most grandest seating was an overweight, middle-aged man who wore exquisite, dark-coloured traditional clothing.

 

Yumi tensed her brow as Sehun placed her on the ground in a kneeling position. He was more likely than not the leader of KangRang, probably an emperor of sorts or someone of equal status.

 

"Excellent job, Chanyeol!" he bellowed.

 

Chanyeol bowed. "Thank you, Your Excellency."

 

The Emperor laughed. "Finally, after all these years, a Guardian is helplessly within our nation's grasp!"

 

The soldiers around them suddenly erupted into a roar of cheering, startling Yumi.

 

She cursed to herself in frustration. How was she going to get out of this? There was not a drop of water in sight and her hands and feet were bound. Even if they weren't, what were the chances of her fighting through this many soldiers?

 

"It has been over a century since anyone has seen a Guardian," the Emperor went on. "I'm curious to see what her abilities are like. Unbind her Chanyeol. I want to see her fight."

 

"Yes, Your Excellency," he replied, immediately complying.

 

The golden yellow glow on Yumi disappeared, allowing her to finally stand up on her two feet. She glared over at the officials. This Emperor was a fool. Yumi might've been new to this whole Guardian thing, but there was a reason why KangRang had been unable to defeat a single Guardian in the past. Once she learnt how to control her abilities, she was sure that even Chanyeol wouldn't be a match for her.

 

Yumi watched as the three soldiers left her side and were replaced by 6 sword-wielding soldiers circling her. She was sure they were all skilled swordsmen, yet she herself had nothing to fight with. There wasn't much she could do to stay alive if it was like this, let alone win and escape. The Emperor smirked while amusement filled his eyes.

 

"Fight!" 

 

 

~~~

 

 

"If you're from YuNan, then what are you doing in YoungNan?" AeMi asked.

 

The group of four were on their horses, trudging around in the forests along the border of KangRang to avoid being detected by the nation's soldiers who were guarding the perimeter.

 

"My family runs a restaurant, you see, and a new restaurant recently opened near ours and is stealing our business," Jongup explained. "So they asked me to go find some rare ingredient that will win all of our customers back."

 

The siblings nodded slowly. "Ah, I see." It seemed like Jongup's family was just as quirky as he was.

 

Daehyun, on the other hand, was in his own world, probably feeling remorseful for being unable to stop Yumi from being captured a second time.

 

"Ah, we're here!" Jongup announced, pointing towards a humungous range of unguarded hills.

 

AeMi raised an eyebrow. "Are we supposed to climb over those? Our horses won't be able to cross it, and I feel as if my legs will fall off halfway if we were to go on foot."

 

He shook his head. "Nope, there's a tunnel up ahead that those soldiers don't know about."

 

The others followed him ahead and found that there was indeed a well-concealed tunnel hidden amongst the hills.

 

"Wow, how did you find out about this?" Youngjae marveled.

 

Jongup smiled sheepishly. "Since it's always me who's responsible for finding rare ingredients, I travel around the three terrains quite often, and when it comes to KangRang, they don't just let anyone in, so… yeah." He shrugged.

 

Daehyun immediately entered the tunnel, casting a spell to create light from his sword. "Let's go, there's no time to waste," he reminded.

 

The siblings nodded as they remembered how important this journey was. Saving Yumi from the hands of this destructive nation was the main priority.

 

 

~~~

 

Yumi grunted as she was kicked to the ground by one of the swordsmen. All that she was able to do so far was to try and dodge their attacks, but with six of them and only one of her, she was at a major disadvantage.

 

The Emperor frowned. "Chanyeol, why isn't she using her abilities? Even if she hasn't mastered her control, she should still know how to use them."

 

The spellcaster bowed. "Your Excellency, I have yet to see her generate water herself. I would believe that she is still unable to do so."

 

One of the swordsmen held his blade to Yumi's throat. "This little weakling here is a Guardian?" he taunted. "How pathetic."

 

"Oh? Then how would you like to fight me one-on-one?" she challenged. "Give me a bow and arrows and I'll take you on."

 

The swordman laughed. "Are you sure the tears won't start falling when you lose?"

 

Yumi smirked. "Oh you'll be crying alright."

 

He scoffed and turned to another soldier. "Get her the bow and arrows."

 

*Seems like Chanyeol is the only smart one around here* she thought to herself. Did he not know that a weapon a Guardian was adept with was the key to unlocking their powers? Yumi happily accepted the bow and quiver full of arrows that she was given. *Time to kick some KangRang .*

 

The swordsman lunged at her while swinging his sword with her quickly blocking it with the frame of her bow before jumping off to the side. Yumi pulled back an arrow and aimed it at him, firing it without a moment's hesitation. The arrow soared through the air, glowing an illuminating shade of blue as it became encrusted in ice. The startled swordsman only just narrowly managed to deflect it with his sword, watching as it hit the ground near him and created a small circle of ice around the spot where it landed.

 

He quickly jumped out of the way as she fired two more arrows at him before she swiftly crossed the ground to where he was, jabbing him in the gut with the corner of her bow. He gasped in pain as he swung his sword, only managing to chop off a few small strands of her hair.

 

The man was angry now and charged at her like a crazed bull, attacking her left and right. It took her all of her ability to just manage to block his attacks with the bow. As soon as she managed to create a little distance between them, she quickly fired an arrow at the ground near his feet, watching as it lit up a bright blue and covered his feet in strong, immovable ice. She shot another one with extreme accuracy to knock the sword out of his hand and moved forward to kick it out of reach.

 

Fighting without a supply of water was difficult, but she could make do with the ice that was created this way by firing her arrows. It was more than enough to take care of this swordsman anyway. Yumi pulled back her last arrow and aimed it at his face.

 

"Game over, pal."

 

She could hear murmuring from her audience and realised that now was the best time for her to take action. She pointed the arrow away from his face and shot it into the ground, creating yet another circle of ice. She hastily tossed her bow to the side and turned all of the ice she had created with the arrows into streams of water, using it to knock over the soldiers surrounding her two sides. Now that a passage was cleared, she ran towards the nearest wall and created steps made out of ice for her to scale the wall.

 

The bellows of protest coming from the Emperor and the other high-ranking officials continued as she jumped over the wall. She had to get out of here and find somewhere to hide temporarily since there was little to no chance of her being able to outrun someone of Chanyeol's calibre, let alone a whole group of them.

 

Yumi made sure to keep the scarce supply of water she had swirling around her, using it to scale wall after wall. The place was huge, and there were no signs of her being able to make it out of the estate anytime soon. She could hear soldiers and possibly spellcasters closing in on her as the yells and footsteps got louder and louder and more infuriated. Continually being in an open space like this made her an easy target, so she decided that it was time to get indoors.

 

Jumping through a pair of doors into the dark hallways of one of the buildings, she pressed her body to the walls and realised that she had acted just in time as well. Several armed soldiers ran past as she held her breath, only letting herself breathe again when the last sign of their presence disappeared.

 

She had only managed to move a few metres when she heard the sound of a door sliding open. She lowered her head slowly in frustration. Stealth was definitely not her thing.

 

"Who are you?" a confused voice asked.

 

Yumi remained silent and pondered on what to do now.

 

"Are you lost? Can I help you?"

 

She turned around and only managed to faintly see the outline of the young man standing behind her. Thanks to the darkness of the hallway, he probably couldn't see the water that was swirling around her.

 

He sent her a kind smile. "This palace is huge. I often got lost too when I first came here. Where do you want to go?"

 

"T-The outside," she slowly replied.

 

He seemed taken aback. "That's really far from here. May I ask, whose daughter are you?"

 

"No one from this palace," came a third, familiarly sneering voice. Baekhyun suddenly appeared at the doorway Yumi had entered from earlier. He lit up the torches on the wall, allowing her and the stranger to properly see each other for the first time. He had black hair and also wore dark combat clothing. He didn't look like he recognised her, but his eyes lit up in surprise when he saw the swirling water.

 

"She's the Guardian of Water who has just escaped from the Imperial Courts, Lay," Baekhyun explained. "And we have been ordered to capture her and take her to the ritual room."

 

"Why the ritual room? What for?" Lay asked.

 

His comrade grinned. "The capital wants to see her powers extracted…"

 

Yumi's eyes tensed as she glowered at him.

 

 

"… along with her life force."

 

 

 

---

 

It's been awhile, but the story's still continuing :) I've got quite a few new ideas for the story during this time. Hope you all like this chapter! Thanks for reading ^^

 

--- Mistlea