Enchanted | KYS

Surprise

'It's been a week; do you think we'll ever find her?' One of the guards asked, walking in sync with the rest of his squad.

'I sure hope we do. I want to go home now.' His comrade answered while yawning with his hand stretched up.

'Quiet, you two.' The person who seemed like the squadron leader hushed them up, warning them of the bandits that lurked in the area.

'Say, captain. What do you think he'll do once he gets his hands on the princess?' The first guy asked in a hushed voice. Yeosang and Sky followed them in their shadow form, intrigued by what the question implied.

'Who knows.' The captain answered vaguely.

'Maybe he'll extract her core too, like the rest of them.' One of the guards answered. Yeosang stopped dead in his tracks.

'Who would've thought that the princess of Wonderland was one of those freaks?' The first guy said. Sky wasn't understanding one bit of the conversation. What did they mean by extracting her core? Yeosang looked back at Hongjoong, whose face looked as pale as his. The water bender must've felt his gaze since he turned and nodded right in his direction, signalling for the rest of them to assume positions.

Yeosang delivered the first blow, extending his shadows like long appendages and rendering the squad unable to move. Jongho attacked next, cuffing their hands with metal that he twisted to form shackles. He was about to knock them unconscious when, to everyone's surprise, the guards broke free. One of them sent out a surge of fire, much like Mingi but weaker and more feeble. The captain then stomped his foot on the ground, and two medium-sized boulders came up to float next to him. He sent both of them flying towards Jongho, who expertly broke them down to powder before they could even reach him. It seemed like the Amenti guards possessed the same powers as the Crescent tribe. That explained the destruction their army left in its wake. Suddenly, it all started to make sense. 'But how did they get these powers?' Sky wondered. The tribe hasn't set foot outside of the forest for decades.

San joined Jongho in the fight, blocking the path from both sides now as they stomped their feet on the ground and pulled out a bigger chunk of rock that they wrapped around the guards. Seonghwa immediately followed, leaving no time for the guards, and extracted all the air out of their lungs, knocking them unconscious.

'Damn,' Sky said, making a mental note never to piss Seonghwa off.

'Let's take them to the village.'

_______

'Who sent you here? Tell us everything you know.' Hongjoong sat in front of the restrained guards. Sky and Mingi sat hidden behind a barrier similar to the one surrounding the village; the ones inside could see everything, but no one could look past it from outside. She watched as the guards refused to talk and remained silent, glaring at him from where they kneeled, held tightly by the two earth mages. 'Tell us about the magical cores, and we'll let you go.' Hongjoong said, signalling the younger two with a simple nod. They raised their hands in the air, then pushed towards the earth that encircled the intruders, crushing them even more among the rocks and soil to the point where it started hardening. The guards screamed out loud, the sounds of bones cracking loud enough for Sky to hear above all the noise. Yet still, the guards didn't seem to budge. 'Look, we could do this all day.' Hongjoong leaned down to the captain's level, his face as expressionless as a stone. 'Either you get crushed between these rocks and die, or you tell us everything you know, and we let you go,' he explained.

'Oh, off you!' Seonghwa pushed Hongjoong aside, finally done trying to negotiate with the intruders. 'I'll make them talk.' He said, moving his hands from the direction of the guards to the sky. In a matter of seconds, the captain started gasping for air, his eyes wide open as he struggled to break free from the restraints that had resumed to close in on their bodies, making it even more difficult to draw breath. He hastily nodded his now blue head, signalling that he was ready to talk, drawing long, deep breaths once Seonghwa let the air flow back into his lungs.

"Would you stop drooling over him for once? He's about to kill someone!" Mingi said in a disgusted whisper.

"Yeah, but he looks hot while doing it." She shrugged, returning to watching the men when the heaving man started speaking.

'Prince Izar sent us to search for Princess Sky. She disappeared from near here after some bandits attacked her convoy.' He spoke with his chest still heaving.

'Isn't this Wonderland's territory? Why does the prince of Amenti send his guards here?' Hongjoong asked, going back to his seat now that the guards had begun talking.

'The princess is to be wed to his highness as an agreement of alliance. He sent us here to hasten up the search.' Hongjoong nodded. So far, everything they said has been true.

'What did you mean when you said he'd extract her core?' He could see the hesitation that flashed across their faces. They looked at each other as if contemplating whether the information was worth dying for. Unfortunately for them, Seonghwa ran out of patience as he once again started drawing the air out of their bodies.

'Wait, we'll speak!' One of the guards screamed, coughing once the air rushed back. 'The prince extracts the core of mages and gives them to his army.' Sky could tell this was new information for the Crescent mages too, judging from the looks of surprise and horror.

'The higher you rise, the more power he gives.' The captain explained. 'Many mages escaped north to save their lives when your king ordered their purge. They stayed hidden there for a long time, but the prince eventually found out and captured every single one of them. Now he uses them to power his army.'

'That is all we know.' The other two nodded their heads, begging Hongjoong to let them go. He stepped aside, revealing Granny, who put her hands on top of the three intruders' heads and rendered them unconscious before doing the same to the last one.

'Don't worry, I just manipulated their memory.' Granny smiled at the very confused-looking Mingi and Sky. 'They won't remember having this encounter. It's as much for their own safety as it is for our village's.' The two nodded before Mingi left to help the other guys move the unconscious guards far away from the village.

'Sky, my child.' Granny called for the princess, patting the seat next to her on a bench. 'Are you adjusting well here?' She asked. Sky nodded her head, telling her how the guys were doing such a great job at making her feel at home. 'I'm glad you feel comfortable now.' The elder patted her head. 'We'll be leaving this place as soon as they come back.' That was a shocker for Sky. 'Don't look at me like that!' Granny laughed at the expression Sky was making. 'This place would soon be filled up with both the King's and Izar's guards. Normally, it wouldn't have been a concern. But just the fact that some of them have the cores of our people changes everything.' Granny's smile faded into a grave, distant expression. 'Our cores are the source of all our magic.' She explained. 'It runs along our bodies, similar to our blood vessels. It's our life force. You separate a mage from his core; you give him certain death. The fact that the prince has the power to extract it and give it to his soldiers has put me in a fix.'

'How about Mingi and I go in and spy on him?' Sky offered, but Granny shook her head.

'You're not strong enough right now, both of you.' She gestured for the returning boys to come closer and sit around her in a circle. 'You need to gain control over your power before we ever think of sending you anywhere close to him. That's why we're moving as far away from the two kingdoms as possible.' She stood up, huffing out a laboured breath. 'We're going to Crescent Island."

I swear I'll pick up the pace from here T~T