тнoѕe wιngѕ ‖ ĸтн·втѕ

48- Up onto Earth

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Third Person's POV

The heron jerks its head to the side when it notices Hurley falls. Seeing the approaching dark smoke towards Hurley, the heron squawks as loud as the tiger's roar earlier to warn them. But not as expected, the smoke accumulates and forms a large sinister smile when the demons choose to challenge back.

The smoke moves swiftly until they've turned into dark horses with golden eyes. They gallop in a large herd, speeding up with the same hope towards the girl. No Hurley, I'm not going to lose you like this. The heron makes a sharp turn before it squawks again. Flapping its wing hard, it dashes towards Hurley like a bullet and snatches her away with its large claws, caging her safely inside before those bastards manage to touch her even a single hair.

"I've got you, Hurley. I've got you." Taeyong murmurs as he flies towards the exit hidden in the clouds. Hope this works. Praying deep inside his heart, he darts pass the clouds and lets his mind travels back to the moment when Jaebum shared his knowledge of Hell with him years ago.

**Taeyong's flashback starts**

Playing with the red and white flowers back in Cheon Guk, the five-year-old stopped with his action and asked, "Hyung, what are these flowers called?" The elder turned to the younger after hearing the questions but his eyes bulged in shock as he saw the peeled petals.

"Taeyong-ah, what are you doing with the Hellfire Petals?!" He couldn't help but grabbed the younger's wrist which the hand was holding on the beautiful petals. "Where did you get these, dongsaeng?"

As a result, the younger eyed the elder innocently when he let go off the petals, letting them fall like snow. His equally shocked expression never left the face after he noticed the elder's reaction. "Is there any problem, Jaebum-hyung?" Taeyong's voice shook as he asked, a sense of guilt and fright risen up the chill of his spine.

The petals penetrated through the cloud both of them were sitting on and there they fell. By the way, the place was shady and fresh with flower fragrance and cool breeze as that was one of the clouds grown on the Gureum (Cloud)Tree. Jaebum stared at the falling petals until they disappeared, and then back to the younger who was still waiting for the answer. He smiled a reassuring smile before patting Taeyong's head, saying, "Aniyo (Nothing)." Shaking his head with the smile still plastered on, Jaebum added with a question, "Taeyong-ah, do you wanna learn how to go exploring Hell?"

Taeyong braced his chin and faced upwards to the left, imagining the picture of Hell with his colourful shifter's brain. "Is it dangerous?" He asked curiously with his head tilted and eventually, his query met Jaebum's chuckle when the elder answered.

"Not at all if you are strong, little shifter." Upon hearing this, Taeyong's eyes brighten as Jaebum's statement was somehow motivating. "So you wanna learn?" The shifter nodded, making the angel giggles. "First of all, it is not easy for you to find an entrance to Hell. To go there, you have to seek for assistance from experienced leaders of your kind, or the warlock." The younger listened and nodded occasionally for the elder to continue. "But if you wanna get out from there, do make sure you see a star shining beneath the cumulonimbus clouds, it will lead you to Earth." Jaebum said thoughtfully.

"Hyung, how do you know all of this?" Taeyong asked again as Jaebum replied with a sad smile.

"In case that I've become a fallen angel, my Dad had told me the ways to escape as my bedtime story every night." The elder answered. "I hope you won't need to use that, because that star seldom appears..."