Magic Man, SeongJoong

꧁•⊹٭𝙵𝚒𝚛𝚎 𝚍𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚗٭⊹•꧂

Once the door was closed behind Hongjoong, he basked in the warmth. The difference from the wild wind outside and the warm breeze drafting through wherever he was, was enchanting. He was still shrouded by darkness, but he could see a warm golden glow from above him. The patterns swirling on the ceiling were inviting, so Hongjoong pushed his legs a few more steps, and he was finally deep inside the room.

In the corner were shelves, adorned with paintings and plates which were messy and chaotic. A sink which had clutter on every spot, Hongjoong wasn't even sure what colour the cabinets were supposed to be. Even the golden light from the small fire wasn't enough to light up the whole room, even the shadows were built up into disturbing looking monsters and Hongjoong knew it was mountains of trash, and all sorts piled on top of each other.

It wasn't his room, he didn't care. All he could think about was his sore feet, and his shaky legs, and his achy back. He located a chair, and set it before the small fire. He sat down, and his whole body relaxed. It had been close to 24 hours since had sat in a proper chair, and rested his old self. His body wasn't made for such journeys, so he was glad to feel his body turn to an relaxed mush before a warm fire.

"Woah, that's some curse your under." A rough voice sounded out, and Hongjoong jumped out of his skin and wobbled the chair.

He looked around the dimly lit room, and there wasn't one person. Who was talking? Who had such a deep and gruff voice that it echoed throughout the room? Then a wicked laugh followed, Hongjoong looked around cautiously. When his eyes caught another pair in the fire, he jumped from the chair and tried to blend in with the shadows.

"It'll be hard to break it." The fire spoke. Hongjoong was wide eyed at the magic which was right in front of him, the scare crow was bad, and now fire was talking? It had moving eyes, a moving mouth!

But what it said caught Hongjoong's attention. He slowly walked forward and the small eyes beyond the fire watched Hongjoong carefully, but with a mischievous glint. The same glint which had been in Wooyoung's eyes many times before. Hongjoong was reminded of his best friend, and felt the warmth from the fire and his friend settle in his stomach. He sat in front of the fire.

"How do you know I'm cursed?" Hongjoong asked, it seemed that this fire thing could see right through Hongjoong's old skin, "Are you cursed too?"

The fire laughed, Hongjoong was surprised to see the realness of this face. The lips were plump as they opened to laugh. The front teeth were slightly crooked but in an adoring kind of way, and the smile which lit up the fire was lovely to look at. Hongjoong kind of hated how pretty the fire was, the way it's human like eyes squinted as it laughed.

"No idiot, I'm not cursed. I am a demon, a fire demon as a matter of fact." It stated proudly, "Many know me as Calcifer, but I prefer the name Mingi."

"A fire demon? Mingi?" Hongjoong asked, all of it was so new to him, of course he was aware of magic but there have only ever been a number of magic users in history, and many of them still alive to this day are said to be hundreds of years old, it's not an everyday thing to see. Hongjoong has only ever heard the stories told to him.

"Yes. I'm bound here." And it always came as a surprise when Hongjoong could see the fire's pupils move, and this time Mingi just happened to roll his eyes, "A contract of some sort."

"A contract? How did a demon end up bound to somewhere?" Hongjoong had to ask, he found it easy to communicate with this fire, it's personality similar to Wooyoung's, which meant Hongjoong would love to tease Mingi.

"Don't get me started." It huffed out, "None of it matters, but what does matter, is that I can break your curse."

"You can break my curse?" Hongjoong asked, he knew he was appearing desperate and falling right into Mingi's fire arms? But he lacked care, he was ready to be young again.

"Yes." But of course it wasn't going to be easy, "But for me to break your curse, you have to end the contract between Howl and I."

"Break your contract?" Hongjoong scoffed now, "I doubt I'll be able to convince the magic user to stop whatever contract you have. It sounds silly to me, and suspicious."

Hongjoong could see the waver in confidence by how wide Mingi's eyes got. His mouth hung open for a few seconds as the fire thought about what to say. It was hard to explain his situation in the first place as Mingi couldn't explain the contents of the contract, and then trying to convince Hongjoong seemed to be a second problem. Mingi was also desperate for his freedom.

"Come on! Please! We can help each other!" Mingi childlike whined. It definitely made Hongjoong smile, he was just like Wooyoung. Whining like a child.

But the fires voice was slowly getting quieter, and the flames in the hearth were getting blurry. Hongjoong was finally settling down, even in the wooden chair which would hurt his back during the night. He was sleepy after not having slept close to 20 hours, so he didn't fight it, and he let Mingi warm his body up, and fall into the deepest sleep.

Mingi was going to complain, shout even, but he too was tired from the sudden wake up during the night. He looked at the old man in front of the fire, and turned off the curse in his eyes. He saw what this man looked like really, and he was pleasantly surprised by the young man who truly sat in front of him. Mingi smiled softly, he wondered if the young man was aware of his ability to end his own curse? Mostly likely not.

He decided to settle down too. It would be morning soon enough, and then he could question the man further, and ask for his name. Howl would be back, and the annoying young boy would be running the shops in the morning. Mingi needed sleep just as much.

"Fine. Have a good night, stupid."