fourteen (1/1)

Taemin woke face down in the soft cool dirt.  His head was pounding and his whole body was soar.  He rose unto his elbows slowly pulling his legs under himself. It was very dark, but he could see that the dirt beneath him sparkled with Lyf. He held his head as he took a better look around.  Even though there were thick vines and roots laced together creating very limited space, he could tell he was in the palaces throne room. He could see the door a short distance from him was bared shut with the awful vines.  He was trapped and the only way for him to go was towards the throne itself.  He took a shaky breath before he stood and carefully made his way through the maze of dangerous overgrowth. The air was thick and smelled metallic.  His skin tingled like he would be shocked at any moment. And his mark was burning on his neck.  The amount of raw Lyf in the room was almost too much for the small elf.  When Taemin was close enough to the raised landing he saw the vines all converged into a tight twisted bulb of thorns and splitter wood.    It seemed to almost hummed with the amount of energy radiating from it.  The little elf examined the bulb for a moment before letting himself collapse at the bottom of the stairs leading up to it. Taemin hugged his thin arms around his shoulders and hung his head. “Hyora?” he called weakly.  He felt tears burn his eyes. He was scared. “Hyora are you there?”  He sniffed and wiped away the first tear.  “Sister?” he sobbed.  The vines behind him delicately unwound, barely making enough noise to alter him. He slowly raised his head and turned to see what was revealed. The vines bloomed open to show in the center Hyora, covered in glowing tendrils of light.  She was cradled in the web of Lyf, her legs and arms bound and face hidden behind her wooden mask. “Little brother, you are here.” Her voice sounded so distant and hollow. “Hyora? What’s going on? What are you doing?” she slowly lifed hermasked face to stare at Taemin, still crouched on the stairs below. “I need to brother, I’m scared.” The wisps of light unwrapped one of her arms enough for her to lift her slender hand out to reach for Taemin.   Taemin shook his head. “You need to stop. I don’t want to be here.” She remained frozen, arm out stretched, “It doesn’t matter what you want any more Taemin, the forest has already won.” Strings of light snaked around her arm, slowly at first, but then lurched forward. Taemin didn’t even have time to try and run before they twirled around his ankles and arms, slithering up his neck. They dragged him into his sister’s embrace. He struggled as hard as he could but there was nothing her could do.  Taemin felt himself be pulled into the flower with the shell of his sister.  He watched as the vines laced together, blocking out the world. In one final attempt for hope Taemin whispered Minho’s name before letting himself fall into the river of Lyf.  ~*~*~ Minho ran for what felt like hours. His chest burned and his legs felt as if they would give out and any moment.  The trees had become so thick further in the forest that the rain barely made it through, and his path was almost unrecognizable.  He managed to find his way to where he had first met Taemin on the bank.  The river had risen, and the calm clear water had turned in to a dark rush of rapids.  He feared what it would look like further down.  He was sure he had long ago left the men from town behind and needed to rest before continuing.  He sat on a near by rock and tried to catch his breath.  Whatever was going on was not good.  Minho could feel the forest was distressed.  Everything seemed bloated and heavy.  The air was thick and Minho could smell the same metallic smell he had on Taemin’s skin.  The more he realized things were bad the more worried he became about his little elf.  He worried that he had caused this. Taemin had been so afraid of his sister in the beginning, what if this was her doing because Taemin had spent a night outside the forest.  Was she evil and this was her wrath? Minho feared the worst but hoped that he could still some how appease the situation.  He needed to know Taemin was okay.  Before he got up from his rock he caught something out of the corner of his eye.  “Who’s there? Taemin?” he stood and stared in to the thick trees.  He looked hard and barely saw the next movement further down the bank. It was just a small glimmer of white moving in and out of the trees. “Hey, wait.” Minho started to run again down the bank, cautious of wet stones or deep mud.  He saw the glimmer move along the tree line weaving in and out of his sight.  He missed his step and fell into the mud, knocking the wind out of himself. Minho slowly pulled himself up on all fours and wiped mud off his face.  “Get up.”Minho snapped his head up and was met with two deep black eyes. For just a second Minho thought it was Taemin.  Those deep black eyes matched those of Taemin but they belonged to a child.  A little elf girl stood inches away from Minho staring him down.  She had short white hair and a simple white dress.  “You need to get up.” Her voice was quiet but strong. Minho didn’t even let himself question the girl. With out waiting she turned and began to run down the bank.  Minho scrambled to his feet and followed after her.  For being so small she was fast and made quick work out of the muddy road. “Who are you?” he called out to her. She didn’t spare him a look but answered. “Hyora.” “Wait, what? No, Taemin said you were older.”  “My brother is in danger.” She ignored Minho and simply kept running towards the spot where the bridge existed.  “Hyora, answer me. What is happening? Where is Taemin?” They were close to the bridge and Minho wasn’t sure what would happen if they made it there.  He didn’t trust her.  He stopped dead in his tracks sliding a little. “I’m not going any farther until you answer me.” The girl finally stopped running, still not facing Minho.  They ran had begun to beat down hard again and there was a considerable distance between them.  Minho thought he heard her say something but couldn’t make it out. “Answer me Hyora, what is happening?” “I made a mistake.” She screamed, startling Minho.  She spun around and despite the rain Minho could see she was crying.  “I messed up and now Taemin is in trouble and only you can get to him. there is nothing I can do and it’s all my fault.”  She started to sob so hard it shook her small figure.  Minho walked up to her, letting her cry and waiting for her to explain more. “I was too weak and scared.  I thought I would be strong enough to keep the forest asleep by myself so he wouldn’t have to bare that burden.  It was so hard and I didn’t want him to see how hard it was, I just wanted him to be happy. But the more I pushed him away the weaker I became. And now the forest has us both and will only continue to grow until the bridge is blurred and the separation between the living and Lyfe are mixed in to one and all balance is lost.” A lot of what she said went over Minho’s head, he didn’t really understand how this was happening but he understood that this had to stop.   “How am I supposed to help? I will I just don’t know how.” Hyora looked at her hands.  Minho saw that her finger tips had become transparent and it was quickly spreading up her arms. She was disappearing right before Minho’s eyes.    “I don’t have much time left before I am pulled back, I used a lot of strength to project myself in to this world.  You need to find him and bring him back to this world. He will be able to lull the forest.” Her little feet were gone and her legs had disappeared under her dress. “Where? Where do I go? And what about you?” Minho was feeling frantic. She looked at Minho one more time with her black eyes, “Go across the bridge.” Her last words she faded leaving Minho alone on the bank.          (A/N; I’m so behind on editing hopefully there aren’t too many mistakes, sorry guys ;-; I can’t believe how quick this week went by, I’ve been really sick but still working a crap ton >.< Anyways, a lot is about to happen in this story and I’m really excited! Let me know what you think and have a good week everyone! Xoxo) Tumblr