~Light Prince

A black blur whizzed past Nichkhun- the air whooshing past him, making his jacket flap about. Bewildered, he only gazed at the black ball until he heard a chuckle he was too familar with. 'Taecyeon,' Nichkhun thought bitterly as the shadow ball blended in the castle's looming shadows. They molded together and Taecyeon's configuration swam past the waves of black, and through the castle walls. As seconds ticked by after Taecyeon's disappearance, Nichkhun sighed loudly, bringing his hands to his face. After all the work he did! He wrung his hands and brought his head low. Of course this would have happened. It was partially his fault, Nichkhun assumed, for being so slow and letting Taecyeon trail him. It was what Taecyeon did- he should have known better. Nichkhun let out a souless laugh and trudged through the snow to the menacing gates and towering walls made of cold, steeled ice. Taecyeon had it easy, but Nichkhun's power couldn't really help- he couldn't use the shadows to seep in through doors or super humanly leap over the walls. Nichkhun studied the the gate and tried to think of what to do. The thick gate was made of a broad, sturdy wood reinforced by a paint over of something... 'Was that lacquer?' - the kind that wouldn't break even when an invader from the opposite side of a war tried to smash it open. And it so happened to also be studded by metal claws gripping the wood together at its weakest points...

Nichkhun felt at odd ease examining the well structured gate. He was slightly grateful of his parents for forcing him to listen to his father drone on about their own gate at their own castle for hours on end. Because it came in handy for this moment. But Nichkhun really couldn't do anything if the edges were crusted with ice- and not just any ice, ice that was soaked with magic- a magic passed on for generations on end from a royal bloodline. Nichkhun couldn't do anything to it. No, nothing at all. He sighed in frustration and backed away a solid five feet and once again evaluated his choice while scanning the walls. Trying to go in through the gate was an option that could not be tried. 'Only if it were normal ice...' Nichkhun found himself thinking. Because if it were so, he could take the warmth of the sun's light and transfer the heat to the ice to melt it. But it wasn't so, and Nichkhun decided he had dwelled too much on a discarded option. And so Nichkhun looked to the walls that were beside the gate. The walls were made of hard ice and thick snow- the translucent snow on the inside of the ice to block the sight inside of the castle. There were sharp icicles poking out of the transparent ice and a cold smoke emitted from the ice- it was frozen very throughly. Nichkhun could feel the chill touching the bones in his hands. Hesitantly, the Prince of Light ran a gloved hand over the surface making sure to avoid the sharp obstacles. And he grinned. The prince excitedly shoved off his glove and ran his now bare hand over the surface of the wall at the speed of light. He tugged gently on the broad parts of the icicles.There was no thrum of magic in the wall- it was a normal, frozen solid ice.

That meant that Nichkhun could use the icicles as a foot lift/stairs to climb up and over the wall. It was a very crazy idea- considering that the prince would have to move very quickly to avoid getting frostbite, even with his magic suppressing gloves. And right after reaching the top of the wall, Nichkhun would have to fall off immediately to avoid being stuck the ice forever. The prince took a shuddering breath. He closed his eyes and tried to muster all his concentration into his being. And after breathing in, and out, in, and out- he was ready. He scrunched his eyes tightly and sprang up, and heaved one foot onto the lowest icicle. A shock of the coldest chill ran through from his foot to his head- all in one second. Trying furiously to push away the panic coloring the edges of his brain, the light prince quickly grasped onto another pole, the cold seeping through him once again. He took another ambitious leap, and landed steadily on another icicle. The panic now started to ebb away- confidence now snapping his eyes open from his success at climbing the first few obstacles. With his required vision, Nichkhun swiftly calculated where his left and right foot and hand needed to go, and yanked off his hand from the old icicle to the upper one. As he began to leap from one icicle to another, the coldness got to him- and made Nichkhun smile- the cold coloring his nose blue. 'I'm actually doing this. This has got to be the most craziest thing I've ever done-' But he liked it- no, he loved this. As Nichkhun got closer and closer to the top, he felt his excitement smooth over all his other worries and he rolled himself on to the top. Without a glance to see if anything would break his fall, Nichkhun jumped off- he had stayed a tad bit too long on the ice- the corner of his jacket had ice sticking onto the wet material, threatening the Light Prince on being stuck there forever. Nichkhun shuddered, midair. The cold air slapped at his face, messing his hair and rummaging roughly through his clothes. His eyes stung with the sudden change- water collecting in his lids. And suddenly- he was on ground. He landed roughly onto the ground. The prince was met with a rush of pride- and immediately winced. A sharp pain shot up his feet to his right hands and arm. His landing would've received full points for show, but it sacrificed his safety.

He remained immobile for many seconds- trying to regain his senses, and trying to recover from his fall. Tingles of pain crawled all over his hand, and Nichkhun could feel his nose becoming numb with the chill still in the air. After the pain dulled into a faint thumping, he shook off the pain and stood up uncertainly. And his eyes swept over the inner walls. It was truly a winter wonderland- just as Taecyeon cliché-ly described: White trees with melancholy, gnarly branches held the snow with a refined air- the snow surrounding the trunks a beautiful, pure, resounding white. Clear, sparkling diamonds hung precariously from the thin branches, and faint blue orbs of all shades were placed artistically around the gems- pointing out the beauty of the diamonds that sparkled with an unknown light. A thawed, pale, and beige path was in the middle- it led from the gate Nichkhun avoided. He had landed in the wintery, decorative terrain on both sides of the path. His eyes widened at the scenery- to store all the stunning visuals in his memory forever. The prince let a faint grin pass over his pale lips as he walked toward the path, his head swiveling left and right: enjoying the season he never got to experience. Before Nichkhun knew it, his boots were crunching on the path- his feet bringing him closer and closer to another gate at the the end of the path. The trees that were there before were gone. The gate stood alone- silent and brooding, connected to the frozen walls that were taller than the palm trees that habited his home. He was here. All Nichkhun had to do was pass the gate that led inside the castle. The young male gazed at the topaz castle with magnificently huge, cloud white towers and the main castle with the final obstacle- the last gate. The Light Prince gulped and gripped the iron handle, and with all his might and power, pushed. With an obnoxiously loud moan and creak, the gate whooshed open- throwing the unsuspecting prince into the unfamiliarity. The wind that was now friendly to Nichkhun playfully pushed the prince forward and vanished.

The male spun around and saw the doors of the gate swinging in the ruthless breeze. Letting out yet another rueful smile, the Light Prince closed the doors with a gentle force. Nichkhun looked back around, and shook his head wondrously in disbelief. A few meters away from the brunette's place, the flat hard ground gave way to three seperate graceful stairways- all made of the same stunning material for the steps, but different hand rails. The stair spiraled up