solis | svt au

13

After they walked inside, Jeonghan was led to his old room - Mingyu led to the servant's quarters. His books and maps that had been strewn all over his desk were gone, along with all clothes in the closet. Despite his absence, everything was in perfect condition, without any musty smells or dust.

His room was how he had remembered it.

Lonely. Dark. Empty.

Jeonghan slumped on his bed, leaning against the headboard. He already hated it.

-

Mingyu, accompanied by a guard, walked down a long and rather cramped corridor. Doors were lined up all along it. Some were open, revealing light chatter and warmth while others were shut tight and silent. He had never seen so many rooms before. Just how long was this corridor?

The guard finally stopped at one room, door closed though light peaked from under it. After giving a sharp knock on the door, she left, leaving Mingyu to wonder what to do.

A moment later, the door creaked open, and a head peaked out. The stranger had slightly thick lips and slightly narrowed eyes. 

"Oh, so you're the newbie?" he said, opening the door a bit wider. "Come on in - you'll be my roommate. I'm Hyungwon by the way." Hyungwon held out his hand, and Mingyu took it, giving it a quick shake before walking in. 

The room was small but surprisingly comfortable. A cheerful fire in the small fireplace fought off the cold evening air, and a stool sat nearby. There were also two beds on opposite walls, and a small table covered in odd bits and pieces of some discarded project.

"Make yourself comfortable," Hyungwon said, pointing at his side of the room.

"Thanks." Mingyu replied, sitting down with a sigh.

-

Jeonghan ran his fingers along a bookshelf, feeling the familiar spines of books he had read countless times as he was confined his room countless times. He was back in his prison, likely to never escape again.

He grabbed a book at random, riffling through the pages, eyes glazed over, before something caught his eye. He stopped at that page.

Jeonghan took a closer look - there wasn't anything out of the ordinary from what he could see, but he was sure that he had seen a brief flash of purple. He then held it up to the sun, feeling a little silly doing so but still determined to confirm his growing suspicions. 

And there!

A faint outline, shimmering in the setting sun's light, of a key. 

A key?

Jeonghan gave the paper a light poke to see if anything would happen, before letting out a small yelp in surprise. Because now an actual, physical key sat in his palm - decorated elaborately with silver and inlaid with stones gleaming purple.

Looking back at the page, he saw a quickly fading message that had replaced the paragraphs that had been there before. 

Find the others, and you'll be free. To find the next one, look in the library.

-

a/n 

oof i suck at rhymes. anywho, i hope you enjoyed reading! :)