35. Darkness

『 Ni-ki's POV 』

We were currently walking in a single line, because a certain realm had decided to have a very narrow path which got narrower and narrower as the only way into the realm, and the only person who could see was Sunoo. The only reason we weren't stepping on each other's foots was because Kyujin had created some shimmery balls of light which Jiwoo referred to as "our artificial stars".

"You guys, I think we're almost there." Sunoo announced, from in front of me. He was the one leading the line.

"Can we just hurry up?" Jiwoo groaned. "Ni-ki and Drayce still smell of dragon."

"I'll have you know, I think the smell of dragon is way better than smelling of something as simple as water." I huffed. She was lucky I couldn't turn back or even move about my hands.

"Just keep going, Sunoo!" Sunghoon encouraged from the back. He sounded happy. Of course he was happy. He was probably having another long conversation with Edlynne back there.

And Yuna was definitely bickering with Huening Kai. From Drayce's point of view, it looked like Sunghoon could not stop smiling at Yuna and Yuna acted annoyed but actually liked him.

Drayce was lowkey annoying. Especially when he was convinced about something. "You guys must be blind." He said to me and Sunoo. "Yuna and Sunghoon definitely have something going on."

"Says the guy who can't see two extra people here," Sunoo mumbled but in a way that it was only audible to me. He rolled his eyes while I snickered.

"I'm convinced." He said, with an air of dignity. "And I'm sure Sullyoon agrees with me."

Now Jiwoo spoke up, she definitely overheard our conversation. "Why would Sullyoon agree with you?"

"When Sunoo and Ni-ki were talking and you and Kyujin were talking, I was left with Sullyoon and I asked her about the two of them." Drayce said.

"And? What'd she say that makes you think she agrees with you?" I asked, invested in this.

"She told me that Yuna's good friends only with Sunoo among all of you but Sunoo is always with Ni-ki which makes her a loner and Sunghoon is a loner, too. You guys didn't meet him before this and so they naturally became good friends." He recounted. "She also said something about their loves being tied together."

"Still don't get the point." Sunoo said.

Drayce huffed in annoyance. He was really losing his patience with us. "She said they're cute together."

That made us all confused because why the hell would Sullyoon say Yuna and Sunghoon were cute together when it was obvious that Sunghoon and Edlynne were dating and Yuna and Huening Kai were whatever they were. It was clear by Jiwoo's voice. "Huh?"

"Yep." Drayce affirmed.

I heard faint whispering from Jiwoo, meaning she was definitely telling Kyujin about all of this.

"What did she say exactly?" Sunoo asked.

"Why are you guys interrogating me?" Drayce asked. "It's very unsettling."

"We have nothing to do because it's taking us too long to reach the stupid realm." I said. "Any story is a good story."

"I don't remember what she said exactly but it was something like, 'Sunghoon is definitely smitten and head over heels in love with his girl and Yuna is just in denial about her feelings for the guy who continuously keeps annoying her'. So you see, she finds them cute together." He answered. And it was as clear as day that Sullyoon and Drayce had very one-sided conversations with each other.

Jiwoo started laughing. "Oh my gosh! You are so dumb." It was directed at Drayce, and he definitely sounded offended.

"You guys are even more annoying than the dragons I dealt with for years." He sighed as we trudged on. The path had now become a tunnel and Sunoo just had to find the opening.

He stopped after some time after which he dramatically said, "we're here guys! The Realm Of Darkness."

We stumbled out of the tunnel opening, and big surprise, we were greeted with more darkness.

After only a few seconds of quiet, Yuna asked, "so, which way to the stone?"

"You see that mountain over there?" Sunoo said, while pointing to somewhere. We followed his arm to see a mountain.

"It's there?" Kyujin asked, and Sunoo nodded in reply. "Not sure if you guys can see it, but there's a small bit of light being emanated from that mountain, I'm pretty sure it's from the stone," he explained.

"The stone must be the only thing keeping the realm from total darkness," Drayce mused.

"Let's keep walking, shall we?" Jini said, and we were off, again.

We walked and walked and though none of us had a watch, we clearly walked for an hour before we couldn't anymore and we were currently in our usual means of transport, still not reaching that stupid mountain.

We continued for a while and had to stop because we ended up in the middle of a turf war.

"Who are they?" Jiwoo wondered aloud.

"They look like vampires," Bae said.

"One of the groups are vampires," Sunoo spoke up. "The other group..."

"Dark sorcerers," Sullyoon finished for him. "Like you."

"What ever could they be fighting about?" Kyujin asked. The others turned to me.

"What?" I asked, looking at all their faces.

"Use your stupid super hearing, dumbass." Yuna said, deadpan. I rolled my eyes, but proceeded to listen.

"Today is our turn, you corpse," one of the sorcerers said.

"I don't care if it's your turn or not," a vampire returned. "We need today's batch."

"And why is that?" Another sorcerer, a female this time asked. "Rules our rules, we get today's."

"Why do you even need them?" The first vampire asked. "They're our source of livelihood. The only food we get."

There were murmurs from both parties, and another vampire spoke up. "Yeah, we're not allowed to feed on you guys so before we harm any of you, just sacrifice performing one of your weird spells for a day, yeah?"

"You think our weird spells aren't our livelihood?" a sorceress called out. "We use our spells, our potions to stop us from becoming monsters. Did you not see what happened back in the Realm of Light? You want us to become those monsters and kill all of you?"

"No, but it's an emergency." A vampire reasoned. "We have a newborn."

The sorcerers froze. "A newborn? What in the name of the guardians were you thinking when you created a newborn?"

"Yesterday, when we were feeding the second batch that was sent, a prisoner from one of the jails escaped. Something was different about the blood of the light monsters and they caused most of us to go in a frenzy," one of the vampires, probably the leader explained.

"And the prisoner got too close and is now a newborn," the sorceress, probably the leader of their group finished.

"Exactly," the vampire said. "Now do you understand why we need today's batch."

"We do," the sorceress nodded. "But rules are rules and we get whatever comes in today. I hope it's a dragon."

"If we go by rules, then today is our turn, isn't it?" The vampire asked. "Because yours was yesterday."

"Yesterday was different," a different sorcerer snapped. "We had two batches. We got the normal batch and you guys got the special batch, light monsters."

"Yeah, and what if the light monsters are sent today too? It's the only thing that can satisfy our new born." The vampire retorted.

"If the light monsters are sent today too, we're getting them." The sorceress said, a tone of finality in her voice.

"Then you'll all have to die," a vampire said.

And all hell broke loose because now the vampires and the sorcerers were fighting. I quickly relayed the conversation to my friends.

"The creatures that reside in the realm are supposed to guard prisoners from the other realms," Drayce affirmed. "This is also the wasteland of the kingdom, so all the dead are sent here."

"Eww," Yuna grimaced. "So the vampires feed on dead creatures and the sorcerers use dead body parts for their spells?"

"Quite sad really," Drayce hummed. "But the system worked quite well, until today."

"Don't the bodies rot or something?" Sullyoon asked.

"There's a spell that keeps all bodies fresh after death," Drayce explained. "The dark sorcerers came up with it."

"Can we just go now?" Jiwoo asked. "Leave them to their fighting."

"The sad thing, Jiwoo," I said, "is that the road is blocked by that war for food down there."

"We can just bypass it," she reasoned.

"No, remember the rules right from the beginning? Way back in Bae's house? Never stray away from the path," Kyujin said.

"You really remembered that?" Jungwon asked, while Kyujin just nodded looking like she was forming a plan.

"We could try flying," Sunghoon suggested.

"That seems like the best idea," Jini said.

We collectively agreed to fly when suddenly the fight stopped and they looked in our direction.

"Guys!" Sullyoon said, looking alarmed. "Why are they looking this way?"

"The spells are up, right?" Jini asked, looking at Yuna and Bae. They both nodded.

"Then..." Sunoo turned back and the rest of us followed. It was a portal, and the dead were probably arriving.

"Fuck it you guys," Sunghoon cursed. "We can't stay in the path, we have to move."

We moved away from the portal while the vampires and sorcerers ran for the portal. It was quite a funny scene, to be honest.

"Since they're not blocking the road, we can go now." Jungwon said.

We all nodded leaving the vampires and sorcerers to continue their war for food.

And suddenly Drayce froze.

His eyes were fixed on the area near the portal. We followed his line of sight and saw a dark red dragon.

"Drayce, are you okay?" I asked, awkwardly because what do you even say to a person when they see a family member or friend die.

"T-t-that's E-emil," he exhaled. "He's been sick for a while but I didn't expect he'd die so soon."

Sullyoon came up to him and patted his back. "At least he's no longer suffering because of sickness and is now at peace, yeah?"

Drayce nodded slowly. He looked up with his eyes glistening, and his voice cracked. "Let's get going."

"We don't need to if you're not ready," Sunoo said.

"It's okay," he said. "Let's just go. I'd like it if I'm in my dragon form, though."

"Yeah, that's okay. Let's just fly to the mountain," I said, and were off. Just two dragons, carrying a bunch of elementals, sorcerers and a fairy and we were all invisible. Nothing weird about that.

We reached the top of the mountain, in record time. But the moment we landed, the stone was nowhere to be seen.

"Sunoo?" Kyujin asked, "where's the stone?"

Sunoo looked around frantically. "I don't know, I can sense it but it seems so close yet so far away."

"You guys?" Yuna called out, "the stone is in that mountain." She was pointing to the mountain next to the one we were currently in. But I couldn't see anything.

"No, it's not." Jiwoo said, "it's in that tiny hill there."

"Is this an illusion?" Kyujin asked.

"Maybe," Bae said, and she seemed to be trying to determine whether it was an illusion or not.

"I think this has something to do with light." Jini said.

Jungwon turned to her in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Drayce said the stone is the only thing keeping the realm from total darkness. That means it's emanating some light from itself or it's keeping only a small amount of light in this place." She recounted.

"So that means, the stone is playing tricks on us?" Sunghoon asked. "Reflecting itself in different places so that we can't determine where it actually is?"

"I think so." Jini said.

"Then it's all up to Sunoo," Yuna said.

The guy looked confused. "Huh?"

"We can't see the stone but you can sense it," Yuna explained. "We'll have to use that to find the stone."

"Okay, I'll try." And the man closed his eyes.

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Having writer's block with this fic but I'm trying okay

Hope y'all are enjoying the story
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