Not proofread
Changbin stayed close to Changkyun and Baekhyun as they walked down the stairs to the third and, as far as they know, last floor of the hunter headquarter. Chanyeol and Sehun walked in front with Dowoon, Doyoung and Matthew following them close behind. Taeyong, Johnny, Yuta and Jungwoo walked close behind Changbin.
Despite not seeing Taeyong, Changbin knew that the guardian was relying on Johnny to support him. The young, uncrowned vampire king was entirely sure what was wrong with Taeyong, but he assumed it had something to do with Ten and Jaehyun somehow. If that was the case maybe Taeyong's exhausted state wasn't to blame on overworking. Still, Changbin could only guess with the little information he had at the moment.
When the group reached the bottom of the staircase, Chanyeol raised his hand, signaling the others to wait. Doyoung walked up to the tall vampire, standing beside him for a short moment and using his echolocation by just clicking his tongue once and then listening carefully.
Changbin knew that the ability of echolocation was something difficult to achieve even for a creature like a banshee, whose abilities all relied on their voice. After all, you needed good hearing for it and train it over years.
This reminded Changbin of the first time he had seen Doyoung. It was after he had encountered a hunter for a the first time and ran away with Felix to protect the other. Back then Changbin had no clue of Doyoung being able to use echolocation. The banshee had probably found them because of this ability along with Kun's werewolf nose.
"There some people down here, but not too many. I guess they're guards. Nobody of the them seem to head our way right now", Doyoung whispered, gaining everyone's attention. It was good that no one was heading their way, so they would maybe be able to find a safe spot to get the reinforcements in here sooner than they had anticipated. Still, before they could call the reinforcements Taeyong had to confirm that there were more than two prisoners here.
"I can see the souls of other creatures. We were right about not only Jaehyun and Ten being held captive here", Taeyong spoke up, shortly after Doyoung finished. This meant that there had to be vampires of the royal palace here too. Hopefully, the cat hybrids of the Sky Clan and Felix and Minho's parents were down here as well.
Changbin could feel his finger itching with the want to do something useful. Beside his plan of how to get through the second floor of the headquarter without being seen, Changbin hasn't done much except being obviously shielded by his vampire hyungs. He knew they were just doing what they thought was good for him, but he felt entirely useless just watching them skillfully take out their opponents with quick, coordinated movements.
"We should get going and not linger here for too long. We need to find a good place for Yuta to set up a link to the others so they can get in here without with portals without Zendala noticing", Johnny spoke up. Changbin looked over to the tall harpy, who also had been his English teacher for two years. The young vampire had never imagined that his English professor was a good fighter and part of an group like NCT, but here he was working on a mission alongside him.
"Let's go then", Baekhyun agreed with Johnny. Changbin could feel Baekhyun's hand on his back for a brief moment. It was something, which had recurrent a lot ever since the mission started and Changbin didn't know what to make of it, but he obliged nonetheless.
The group started to move again and Changbin remained in the protected middle like he had throughout the whole mission. Baekhyun moved to the front to Chanyeol, Sehun and Doyoung, who continued to lead the group through the maze of corridors, which was oddly familiar to Changbin after all the training and memorizing of the headquarter's map.
When Baekhyun was up front besides Chanyeol, Sehun and Dowoon fell back a little to be closer to Changbin. It was a system Changbin had observed over the course of the mission. The only one, who alway stuck close to him no matter what was Changkyun, but he had been made aware of that beforehand.
Through the mind link, Changbin could hear Taeyong giving information on the things he could see, which Baekhyun probably took into consideration while running up front. It was probably the whole reason Baekhyun had changed his position.
"There at least two more souls- ... Wait, Baekhyun turn right", Taeyong's voice echoed though Changbin's head again. It sounded monotone at first, but then the guardian's voice got an almost panicked undertone. It made Changbin's stomach cramp with an uneasy feeling. What had Taeyong seen for him to react like that?
Baekhyun did as he was instructed by Taeyong and the group followed his lead almost naturally. The group moved swiftly and quietly, not attracting any attention from any hunters. At least Changbin thought that until Doyoung quietly clicked his tongue twice, which he tended to do when he noticed something potentially dangerous. Sometimes nothing happened afterwards, but most of the time he warned the others of hunters shortly after it.
"Four hunters ahead at the little crossing. Two in the right and two in the left corridor", Doyoung mumbled quietly, proofing Changbin's little theory. Changbin could see Matthew casting a spell in the corner of his eyes and in the next moment, Sehun, Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Dowoon had dashed forward in their supernatural speed. Sehun and Dowoon turned on the left corner while Chanyeol and Baekhyun ran around the right one. A dull thumbing sound was hear and it was silent once more.
When the rest of the group arrived at the crossing, everything was already over. Sehun and Baekhyun held two crystals each on the necklaces they were attached to handing them to Matthew, who pocketed the crystals in the little pocket in his cloak.
The magical creatures were the one who had pocketed all the crystals of the hunters they had taken out despite being at risk of loosing their magic because of them. Changbin's guess was that it was a precaution for the cloaks. After all, Taeyong, Matthew and Yuta could renew the spells on the cloaks while the non magical creatures obviously couldn't.
Matthew and Yuta stepped forward, quickly casting an illusion and probably another spell to keep them put over the unconscious hunters, so they wouldn't be found as easily. Changbin had to admit that it was an easy yet affective method for hiding them. The probability of them being discovered like that was lowered, but not nullified despite Yuta's research on the effects of the crystals on magic.
Changbin would probably have continued to watch Matthew and Yuta work if Taeyong didn't run past him, turning right and walking down the corridor like he had a certain goal. The guardian was quickly followed by Johnny and Jungwoo.
A quick glance to Changkyun confirmed that the older vampire had no clue what Taeyong could have seen either. It was obvious that it must be something important, which let Changbin follow him without much thought. Changkyun was of course right beside him and soon join by the others.
Taeyong turned sharply at another corner and out of Changbin's sight for a brief moment. A strong pulse of energy could be felt in the air and Changbin noticed the quick lighting up for red magic. Had Taeyong just casted a spell?
The young vampire used a bit of his supernatural speed to go after Taeyong quicker and soon reached the guardian, who had stopped in front of a grey, thick, metal door with two other hunters laying to his feet. Johnny and Jungwoo stood close to their leader.
Changbin came to a halt not far behind them and noticed Johnny had his hand on Taeyong's shoulder. The harpy's grip seemed to be firm yet gentle. The guardian's gaze was entirely focused onto the door in front of him. He was staring at it with a mix of desperation and fear on his face.
Yuta quickly walked past Changbin towards Taeyong and the door. He was quick to use his magic on it and looked towards Johnny for a brief moment only to nod and focus on the door again. Changbin was a bit confused about the interaction between the warlock with the violet hair and his English teacher, but he focused on what Yuta was doing to the door.
The violet magic of Yuta seemed to mix with something that was a very dark shade of blue. It seemed almost black and Changbin guessed that this was Zendala's magic. Without too much effort Yuta seemed to be able to nullify or at least deactivate Zendala's magic, which Changbin hoped was a good signed, but he couldn't be sure. His magical knowledge was limited to theory and Nakamoto Yuta was more of a practical magic user than a theoretical one.
The second Yuta was done with working on Zendala's magic, Taeyong freed himself from Johnny's grip and walked another step closer to the door. His hand was hovering over the handle, but he hesitated for a brief moment before pushing it down and pulling the thick, metal door open.
Changbin could feel a knot forming in his stomach when he saw Taeyong's blue eyes fill themselves with nothing but sheer horror. The guardian's breath hitched, but within a heartbeat he was inside the room and out of Changbin's sight. Johnny followed the guardian without hesitation while Jungwoo remained behind, just staring ahead with his hands covering his mouth.
Driven by a strange mix of curiosity and dread Changbin walked a bit closer to the door to see inside, only to be pulled back by his shoulders. Changbin would have turned around and slapped the hands on his shoulders away out of pure instinct and reflex if he wouldn't know Changkyun's grip so well.
"We have different things to worry about", the older vampire mumbled next to Changbin. For a moment Changbin felt a bit of anger pulse through him. He wanted to snap at the older and say how this was important to the vampires too until he caught a glimpse of the worry and bit of dread in Changkyun's black eyes.
It was the moment a stinging scent reached Changbin's nostrils, filling his smelling sense with the stench of old blood. It was something the young vampire prince only now noticed, which suggested that this awful smell had been trapped in that room and it also made another thing very clear.
Whatever was in that room, whoever was in that room, Changkyun didn't want Changbin to see it or them. Despite his weird curiosity from beforehand, Changbin now realized that he really didn't want to know what sight was in that room.
"We should probably get going. Yuta will create the link here and get the reinforcements. In the meanwhile he we can already start searching on our own", Baekhyun spoke up on Changbin's other side. The young vampire king let himself be pulled out of his thoughts and looked at the older male. Baekhyun was already gazing at him, waiting for his response.
It took Changbin a short moment to catch up, but then he nodded in agreement. They had to save every creature that was down here and after that they would take care of Zendala if given the chance.
Changbin focused on Baekhyun again, knowing that the best person to lead now was the experienced royal guard due the fact that he had listened to Taeyong's observations beforehand. If someone could quickly find another cell with prisoners. It was Baekhyun.
"Take the lead, hyung", Changbin said, earning a nod from Baekhyun. With that the royal guard took off, closely followed by Changbin, the other vampires and Matthew.
If this mission succeeded the hunters would loose a part of the advantage they had so far, and Changbin dearly hoped the operation would continue as smoothly as it has been until now.
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The sight in the room was a horrendous one and could only be evidence of the doing of a monster. On the ground were six lifeless bodies, covered in blood both old and new. The foul stench was attacking even the most dull senses and the pure sight of the brutally murdered victims would let everyone look away. Still, the most brutal part about this was that the corpses of both vampires and cat hybrids seemed young, too young to be unmoving and lifeless.
Despite the horrific scene before him, Taeyong's main focus laid upon the two creatures, who still had a soul within their bodies. Ten was chained to a metal chair, which faced the door, by his wrists and ankles. His head was hanging low and his wings had dropped down in a weird angle. He wasn't moving, but at first glance he didn't seem to have any life threatening or even deep injuries. It was a relief, but only for a very brief moment.
Taeyong's focus shifted to the side where he could sense Jaehyun's souls and only then did he realize the true horror his two group mates had been through in the last two weeks. Something dropped into the pit of his stomach and he could feel very fiber of his body beginning to ache.
Jaehyun was chained to the wall opposite of Ten. At the first glance, Taeyong wasn't sure if it even was Jaehyun. The Demi-dragon, who usually seemed confident, composed and focused on the task at hand, was made almost unrecognizable by bruises and cuts, but most importantly the missing of his black dragon wings.
Slowly Taeyong's eyes dropped down from Jaehyun onto the floor where he could see the remains of what were once Jaehyun's might and beautiful, black dragon wings. This was the moment the red haired guardian began to feel sick to the point he wasn't sure if he could move one muscle without throwing up. Maybe he would have stood in the middle of the torture room unmoving for a while if it wasn't for the manifestation of anger that walked past him and directed his attention away from Jaehyun's rotting wings.
Johnny had walked past Taeyong towards Jaehyun. His scarlet red aura was pulsing with wrath, but he remained composed. It threw Taeyong back to the moment Johnny had told him how the only reason he wasn't giving into his anger was Taeyong's mere presence, but right now the red haired guardian doubted that the harpy could hold back his wrath if they came across a hunter, or worse Zendala.
"Taeyong, Johnny", Taeyong's focus snapped to the chained Ten when he heard the Demi-dragon's weak voice. Ten had raised his head slightly, looking up at Taeyong with his bronze eyes. Within the bronze orbs Taeyong only saw hope and relief and within a second tears. It was more than enough for Taeyong's mind switch to autopilot and pure instinct.
Within heartbeats Taeyong was kneeling in front of Ten, using his magic to rip the chains off him. The metal cracked under the pressure of Taeyong's magic within heartbeats, ultimately falling to the ground with a clonk. Without hesitation, Taeyong pulled Ten against him the second the chains were gone.
Ten's body felt cold and weak against Taeyong's, however, the guardian couldn't help but feel relieved that he could hold the other. The demi-dragon was weakly wrapping his arms around Taeyong's upper body, burying his face in the guardian's neck letting only soft whimpers escape him while his body lightly shook.
Taeyong's eyes began to sting uncomfortably, but he didn't allow himself to cry. He had to make sure Ten and Jaehyun were safe and then he had to save as many other creatures as he could before taking on Zendala.
With Ten still close to his chest, Taeyong looked over his shoulder back to the rest of his group. Yuta had entered the room too. The warlock was standing in the room with his eyes close while he seemed to mumble to himself. His hands glowed, but Taeyong couldn't really feel the other's magic until a magical wave emitted from Yuta, covering the room in violet light for a brief moment. The six corpses seemed to glow for a short moment before they began to fade, being slowly morphed into something Taeyong liked to call "memory light" since all that was left of a corpse after casting this spell was a little ball of light in the color of the soul of the dead person.
The "memory light" spell was the creation of him and Yuta. They came up with it because of Taeyong's ability to see souls despite the guardian being unable to see any sort of soul in a dead person. The memory light contained all the memories and last thoughts of a person and could be taken to the dead's loved ones to bury instead of a corpse.
Yuta reopened his eyes and let his shoulders slump lightly before he bend down to collect the memory lights. He carefully put them in an another empty pocket on the inner side of his cloak before he looked over to Taeyong and Ten. In the dark grey eyes of the warlock shimmered a bit of exhaustion but a lot more determination. Through the course of this mission, Yuta had been putting up with a lot for the sake of his leader and he was still the main magical user of the little rescue party despite Taeyong being a guardian, a naturally resourceful and powerful magical creature. There was no way Taeyong could ever properly repay Yuta for everything he had done today.
"We should get them out and the others in here. The vampires already took off to find other prisoners", Yuta said in a soft voice, ripping Taeyong out of his thoughts. The guardian focused on the warlock again and nodded lightly before he looked back to Ten.
The Demi-dragon had gone quiet, but Taeyong could still feel him breath and the faint heartbeat of the other. The guardian carefully readjusted his arms, so he could pick the Demi-dragon up. With one arm wrapped around Ten's torso and the other under his knees, Taeyong stood up again. Ten was still weakly holding onto him, but he had passed out at one point. The demi-dragon was unusually light, despite him having never been heavy in the first place.
Taeyong turned around facing Johnny, who was holding Jaehyun in his arms. The harpy's focus was on the half-dead Demi-dragon in his arms. In his brown eyes was nothing but pain and regret while his aura still pulsed with anger. This anger was fueled by the pain and regret, yet Johnny's gaze couldn't be described as furious or even revengeful. Taeyong knew that right now Johnny's fury was covered by the very thing they both regretted. They regretted having never told Jaehyun anything about their feelings, their special bond; they regretted waiting for the "right" moment to tell him.
The red-haired guardian had to bite his lips in order to not visibly react to Jaehyun's current state, Johnny's regretful gaze and let all of his own regrets fill his mind. He promised himself to make sure that Jaehyun and Ten hadn't suffered for nothing and that this mission would be a success no matter what.
Feeling Yuta's magic, made Taeyong's gaze pull away from Johnny and Jaehyun and focus on the warlock, who was setting up the portal link, so the others could join them down here without being detected by Zendala. The warlock was standing in front of the back wall of the room, creating a swirl of violet magic which looked like a portal, but Taeyong knew he was basically over writing Zendala's whole magic system. The violet light emitting from the small swirl of magic that was forming itself in midair in front of Yuta was still as powerful as at the start of the mission.
"We'll keep watch here until you return with the others", Doyoung's voice let Taeyong look to the entrance of the room. Doyoung and Jungwoo stood there, holding hands. They had entered the room probably to attract less attention towards them, but Taeyong hadn't noticed them enter at all.
"Hyung. Maybe let Taeil-hyung and Haechan switch position, so he can heal them", Jungwoo suggested, having his gaze focused on Johnny and Jaehyun. Taeyong looked at the merman, who seemed pale and frightened, but still spoke with an unwavering voice. His suggestion was a good one despite the thought of Haechan having to fight hunters not sitting entirely well with him. They maybe needed a healer, who could do more than first aid, more than they had initially thought.
Taeyong nodded at the others suggestion. He didn't dare to speak for now, because he didn't fully trust his voice just yet.
"It's ready", Yuta spoke up, directing Taeyong's attention towards the warlock and the portal he was standing in front. They could get back to the safe point now and come back with the reinforcements.
Taeyong walked over to Yuta, closely followed by Johnny. The guardian stepped through the portal, feeling Yuta's magic surround him for a moment before he was met with the darkness of the night and the sight of a forest opening filled with supernaturals.
When Taeyong stepped out of the portal closely followed by Johnny, he could see immediate movement among the people and within heartbeats Taeil followed by Renjun, Winwin but also YangYang came into sight. YangYang was quick to brush past everyone and quickly approaching Taeyong, who was still holding Ten. The eyes of the young wing mage were wide and his mouth was slightly opened, but he said nothing.
"Bring them over there", Taeil spoke up pointing into a certain direction. Taeyong assumed it was the direction of the medic camp Taeil had set up with Winwin and Renjun, but he wasn't sure since he couldn't see much in the dark. Winwin was leading Johnny, who was still carrying Jaehyun, away while Taeil came up to Taeyong. The other guardian gently nudging YangYang to the side and into the reach of Renjun, who tugged the young wind mage completely out of the way.
"Let me take care of Ten and give command to the other groups before they get nervous", Taeil whispered in a low voice, gently putting his arms beside Taeyong's to take Ten out of his hold. For a brief moment Taeyong hesitated, but then he reminded himself that the last thing Taeil was going to do was hurt Ten. It also reminded Taeyong of Jungwoo's suggestion.
"Do you think you can switch position with Donghyuck?", Taeyong asked when Taeil readjusted Ten in his arms. The guardian with the black hair looked at Taeyong for a short moment before he nodded in agreement.
"It would make Mark the leader of the group", the other guardian added, which for a moment didn't sit well with Taeyong. Taeil was part of the group with Jeno, Jaemin, Chenle, Haechan and Mark. Haechan was the one, who should stay back, while Taeil would have gone into the headquarter as the leader of the group. With Taeil switching position with Haechan, Mark would be the oldest and most experienced in the group that was heading into enemy territory and basically the best one to be the leader and have a mind link. Still, Taeyong had the feeling that Mark's personal problem with the hunters could cloud his judgement a lot.
Taeyong shook his head for a short moment, ripping himself out of his head and focusing back on Taeil. They had to make this change. For one last time Taeyong looked down at Ten and then took a quick breath.
"I will let J.Seph know. Let Mark know", Taeyong said in a surprising solid voice and Taeil nodded. Without further delay, Taeyong turned his back to Taeil heading to the main crowd of creatures. The leaders of each group had already stepped forward. J.Seph joined Taeyong's side when the red-haired guardian reached the main crowd.
"For NCT Dream, create a mind link with Mark and not Taeil. There has been a minor change in the plan concerning the medical support. We need Taeil here" Taeyong informed the other guardian in a quiet voice before he turned to the main crowd. He took a breath readying himself for giving the final command.
"When you walk through the portal you will find yourself in a small room with Kim Jungwoo, Kim Doyoung and Nakamoto Yuta, three members from my group. Should this not be case something has gone wrong and the leader needs to immediately report it. With that said the first group can follow me", Taeyong instructed. Without hesitation Jaebum of the GOT7 group stepped forward with his group following behind him except for Youngjae, who would stay back.
Jaebum received the mind link from J.Seph and then looked at Taeyong like he was asking the other to take the lead. Taeyong nodded and walked back to the portal with the GOT7 group following behind him.
With one last glance into the direction where he assumed the medical camp should be, he stepped through the portal letting himself get take back into the headquarter of the enemy. Now, he just had to save the remaining prisoners and hunt down Zendala.
Author's note: I have not much to say about this chapter except that I am a bit dissatisfied with the lack of emotion within the words. Well, I will most likely work that out when I proofread the thing later on. The next Chapter will be a bit more interesting since we will see Stray Kids in action!
Until next week and take care of yourself!
With lots of love,
Akeminii