Vanished [ATEEZ]

another world

The whistling of birds and the sounds of waves crashing against the sand were the firsts things Jongho heard. He opened his eyes slowly, accustoming them to the bright light. Everything came back in his mind, and for a moment he thought that he was still trapped in the white light of the door. But when he finally succeeded to open his eyes, he found himself laying on the warm sand facing the sun. A small yet gorgeous beach demarcated by what nearly looked like a jungle. He took some time to realise before sitting down. His friends were laying on the sand too, peacefully sleeping. A small smile drew on his face as he looked at his seven friends.
They were safe. No guards at the horizon. By the way, nothing at the horizon. Just the endless sea merging with the sky. A calm and relaxing atmosphere floated in the air.
Jongho got up and noticed that he wasn't dressed with the clothes he had when he left. His clothes seemed old but expensive. He was dressed with a simple brown loose pant and a white loose shirt, his wide black belt holding a saber. A large scarf was wrapped around his waist and an ornate jacket was placed on his shoulder. His brown boots seemed a little cracked. All of his friends were dressed nearly the same as him. Just small details weren't the same. Some of them had what looked like gold earrings and necklaces, some had a headband, some didn't had ornaments on their jacket but on they pants or shirt. The only one who was a little different from the other was Hongjoong. His jacket was longer than the other, just as a velvet one. It was deep blue just as it came from the abyss. Jongho noticed that unlike the other Hongjoong didn't had any jewels except for the one he already had. The differences between him and the other men clearly showed that he was the captain.

Jongho was already awake for more than fifteen minutes now and his friends hadn't move yet. He was still on the warm sand, sitting there quietly, just appreciating the calm. After a moment he decided to go near the shore. When his now barefoot touched the water, he felt like everything that happened was behind him. As if he had just reborn. He felt great and happy.
He put back his boots and turned around, slowly walking back to his friends. But at the edge of the trees he saw the shape of something. A little boy, looking straight at him. Jongho didn't really had the time to react that the little boy started running back into the jungle. Jongho followed him, letting his friends still asleep on the beach. He ran toward where he had saw the kid. He saw him once again, trying to reach him. He kept on calling him « Hey! », « Come back », « I'm not bad!», « I need your help». But the little boy kept on running. He wasn't really running away from him but more playing. Just like a catch-up, he kept on laughing brightly. Jongho pushed the bushes that were blocking him and his eyes widened. He had arrived in an old village. The place seemed peaceful. No guards at the horizon, just kids playing around and adults laughing. Everyone around him was dressed quite similar as him. As he walked down the path between the little sheds and thatched cottages, he noticed that everyone was looking at him. The kids had stop running everywhere and the adults had stop laughing, just talking quietly. But their gaze did not seemed malicious or anything else, only curious and a little scared.

Jongho kept on walking, sometimes glancing back. He was nervous, the behaviour of those people wasn't normal. After a little more than a minute of walking, he arrived at what looked like a square. In the middle of it, the young boy was waiting for him. Jongho approached him and the little boy smiled. When Jongho was nearly at the same height as the kid he felt an hard grip on his shoulder, throwing him on the ground. In front of him, a tall and strong man kept on trying to slash him with his sword. Jongho reacted quickly and grabbed his saber, blocking the attack of the man. The entire village had ran there, looking at them fighting. They all seemed worried, some of them even looking on the defensive.
The man was really strong and probably a better fighter than Jongho. He succeeded to disarm the young man, throwing his saber away from him. His saber sank toward Jongho and by reflex he shuts his eyes.