It seemed like hours before we were finally able to step off the last of the walkways between the lonely platforms and walk up to the entrance of the dark temple that now loomed above us.
The building was surrounded by several towers from the top of which dark flames flickered from black firepits, giving the big dome on top of the temple an eerie glow.
It was beautiful though, and so tall that I couldn't see the top of its spires as they reached into the black ceiling of the cavern.
I glanced one last time over my shoulder at the walkways that were suspended between the platforms, my eyes flickering to the faint lights in the distance where the inner city of District 7 was located.
I had realized that I knew far too little about the districts, about my own kingdom and its people.
But I was going to change that, I told myself.
One day I would come back.
One day I would walk the streets of this town as well.
I followed the others into the temple, Wooyoung and me both carrying bright flames and Seongwha, being able to control the darkness around him by sheer force of will, did his own thing.
And so, we went exploring.
Mingi's words, not mine.
The pillars that had been absent on the outside of the temple seemed to have been hidden inside instead, lining rows of wide paths through the building.
I held my flame up to one of the massive columns and took a closer look at the symbols.
The black stone had been decorated with so many images that it was almost impossible for me to register everything that unfolded in front of my eyes.
For a moment, I felt a little overwhelmed as I realized that every temple we had visited had been filled with images just like these.
Images of Avalon's history, of elementals, stretching back to the beginning of time.
There were still so many things that I didn't know or fully comprehend about my kingdom.
And so many things that I had ruined since our journey had begun.
I let my other hand rest on the smooth surface of the pillar for a couple of seconds as I made a promise to myself that I would have all of the temples restored once we succeeded.
Eventually, we all gathered at the center of the temple, fully able to recognize the structure of the room as it seemed to be the same for every district.
In front of us, a pedestal cut from the same rocks as the columns all around us loomed expectantly.
Seongwha willed the shadows to crawl away, and in a matter of seconds, we were able to see it clearly; the symbol of the hand, beckoning us forward, as well as the perfect circle at the top of the stone that contained District 7's symbol.
The symbol of Darkness.
Seongwha turned around before he made another move toward the pedestal, though I could see a flicker of curiousness in his eyes, and regret, I realized, as he turned away from the symbols.
"So I'm guessing," he began, scanning the faces of our group, "that you've already got fire, water, earth, and air covered, then?"
"Actually, we haven't gotten the ruby yet." I said, referring to the gemstone that was located in District 1.
The one representing fire.
"It was too close to the capital."
"We do have the diamond, though." Jongho said, as if trying to lighten the mood.
"From District 8," he elaborated, but Seongwha seemed to know what he was talking about, though he looked surprised.
"But-" Seongwha said, his eyes locking with each of us again as if he was trying to search for something that wasn't there.
"He didn't want to join us," I said, realizing that he was identifying the rest of the group by the colour of their eyes, coming up empty-handed as he tried to find anything resembling an ice elemental.
"But he helped us in the temple. He saved our lives, twice, at that, but we went our separate ways when we left the district again."
"So this is the fifth one?" Seonghwa said, motioning toward the pedestal behind him. Everyone nodded their heads.
I found it a little funny how quickly the others had adapted to following Seonghwa's orders, the darkness elemental being the eldest of the bunch, though I suspected that everything would return to its natural state of chaos soon enough.
"Only three to go," Yunho said.
Seongwha turned back around, crouching down before reaching out his hand toward the symbol.
"Wait-" I suddenly blurted out, putting my hand on the darkness elemental's shoulder.
He stopped, his hand hovering only a couple of centimeters from the dark stone.
"You should know that once we get our hands on that onyx, the entire temple will most likely be destroyed."
"Actually, we're 300% sure that will be the case," Mingi said.
Seongwha hesitated for a couple of seconds as he processed our words. I had to tell him, I thought. He deserved to know, though I was also afraid that he would back down.
But he simply cracked a warm smile at us, probably one of the last things I had expected to see in the Temple of Darkness.
Seongwha simply shrugged off our worries, turning back toward the pedestal, shuffled a little closer, and then put his hand on the symbol.
This time, there was no light to be seen from inside the pedestal; no glow from deep inside the pillar that blinded us as the gemstone was revealed.
Instead, the shadows all around us seemed to grow stronger, darker, and colder by the second, crawling up Seonghwa's back before making its way up the sides of the pedestal.
I couldn't help but shiver, though it wasn't from fear.
There was something elegant about the way he handled the darkness.
A familiar click was heard, the soft sound ringing throughout the otherwise silent room as everyone held their breath in anticipation.
I walked over to Seongwha's side and held my flame over the symbol of the darkness elementals that had now split in two, letting it light up the small room inside the stone.
The glow from golden flame seemed to dance across the surface of The Onyx of Mallumo as Seongwha carefully picked it up and held it in his hand for the others to see; smooth, black, and beautiful.
He handed it to me with a smirk.
"Your highness," he said, doing a mock bow.
I pushed him, making him stumble back a few steps as he let out a laugh.
"You know I hate it when people call me that," I grumbled, putting the onyx into the bag with the other gemstones.
"You'll have to get used to it at some point, though."
"He's right, y/n," Wooyoung said.
I turned around to face the pink-haired fire elemental, unable to hide the surprise on my face as I realized that he had just agreed with Seonghwa.
I was about to say something but Jongho suddenly yelled out, pushing Yunho out of the way as a boulder smashed into the floor right where the water elemental had been standing a couple of seconds ago.
"How did you-?" Mingi began, all of us looking up at the ceiling to see where the stone had come from.
Another one came, fast, though it fell silently, the first and only sound being the sickening cracks it made as it crushed the smooth stone floor underneath out feet.
Suddenly, the boulders began to fall like heavy rain; pieces of the roof, jagged stones and dark panes of glass raining down on us.
Seongwha was quick to react, pulling us along through the temple as we tried our best to avoid getting hit on the head with something dangerous.
My flame had long died down which left only Wooyoung and Seongwha to guide the rest of us.
We came to a sudden halt in front of one of the beautifully decorated columns, and I walked directly into Seongwha's back, muttering a curse under my breath.
"What are you doing? We have to get out of here!" Wooyoung yelled.
But Seonghwa seemed to be too busy studying the pillar's dark shadow on the floor to hear him.
"This is perfect," he mumbled, and then he disappeared right in front of our eyes, leaving us alone in the crumbling, and very dark, temple.
"You said we could trust him!" Mingi shouted, sounding more panicked and shocked than angry.
I was absolutely speechless.
I refused to believe what had just happened as I glared down at the shadow beneath us.
And then, Seongwha suddenly reappeared, almost as if he had materialized from the shadow itself.
Before anyone got the chance to protest, he wrapped his arm around me, his other hand grabbing a hold of Jongho's wrist before pulling us into the darkness.
Before I knew it, the temple and loud noises, cracks, and roars of destruction had disappeared.
The world turned upside down, and when I opened my eyes again, I found myself standing in the middle of the arena on top of District 7.
Seongwha was already gone again, and I whipped my head around to stare at Jongho with wide eyes.
The earth elemental turned around in a confused circle, as if he was searching for the darkness elemental as well.
None of us knew what to say, or even what to believe.
I didn't know where to start.
What had just happened?
How had this just happened?
Suddenly, Yunho and Mingi appeared from the shadows as well, stumbling forward only for Jongho to catch both of them.
The younger man made sure than none of the two elementals fell over before turning to his search for Seongwha.
The aforementioned elemental appeared only a couple of seconds later, Wooyoung stumbling slightly to the side as he came into view behind him.
Seongwha counted the group, cracking a satisfied smile once he finished, dusting off his hands on his pants.
"Anyone hurt?" he asked, but everyone was too shocked to even come up with an answer.
The group gaped at him, and a look of realization flashed in Seonghwa's eyes.
"Ah," he said, noticing our confusion.
"Shadow travel," he explained, motioning to the dark spot on the ground beneath him, the shadows looking a little more solid underneath his feet than the ones a couple of meters away.
"It's a darkness elemental thing," he shrugged.
He looked like he wanted to say something more, but he was interrupted as a yell cut through the otherwise silent air in the round arena.
We all turned around to see what, or who, had made the sound.
At the other end of the arena, the clearing by the lake where Wooyoung and I had talked not too long ago, the black sand beach and dark water seemed to be much further away than I had remembered.
Appearing from an opening in the trees, we saw a man sprinting toward us, his dark hair whipping wildly in the wind as he bolted into the arena.
"Who-?" Seongwha said, his voice laced with confusion.
The running man looked over his shoulder for a second.
When he turned back around in our direction, a single ray of sunlight broke through the dark clouds, highlighting a unique white stripe of hair in the otherwise brown mess of locks.
"San?!" I yelled.
I was about to run toward him, but he gestured wildly with his hands for me to stop before pointing toward the sky behind him.
"No, run!" he yelled.
We barely got the chance to process his words before lightning struck somewhere right behind the fire elemental.
My heart sank as I realized what was happening.
We hadn't been looking at the real problem, and our inattention could cost us dearly if we didn't get out of here soon, I realized.
A sharp purple light lit up the entire arena as the familiar, and dreadful, smell of electricity exploded in the air all around us.
I took a shaky step back, and before I knew it, we were all running, San not far behind as the sky broke down on top of us.
A/N:
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