Falling || Taejin

Chapter 4

Taehyung coughed uncontrollably before saying with a truck load of difficulty, "So- *cough* so I just dive *cough cough COUGH* in?"

"Ye- *cough* -s"

Taehyung tried to stomach his surroundings once more but because of the blinding and stifling smoke all around them, all he could manage to see was blotches of red a little away from them and Seokjin's equally red eyes. He felt Seokjin tying the thick rope around his waist and handing him a piece of bread as small as his toe. Taehyung popped the little piece of magic that would help him hold his breath long enough to pick some fireweed from the bottom of the lake.

Seokjin rested his hand on Taehyung's back and squeezed it as an indication to jump in. Taehyung couldn't even see before him but he could feel the tremendous heat from the lake, so he dived in.

It was the strangest place Taehyung has ever been in his eight thousand years of existence. It was like water, but denser and very much red. It was like he was swimming in tomato soup except that the soup had been shoved inside a furnace. Yes, Taehyung could feel the intensity of the heat but it did not pain him in the slightest. In fact, there was something enjoyable about the heat.

Taehyung sliced through the lava, swimming deeper and deeper into the lake. His heart almost leaped out of his chest when the skeleton of some animal floated past him. He was hit by a long bone in the head as he waded through the lava. He tried not to look anywhere but down because he knew he would see more of the dead if he looked around. Finally, he could see something bright and orange although it was hard to differentiate from the redness around him but there it was- fireweed.

He plucked a dozen of them and began to swim upwards. However, the higher he went, the more difficult it became to swim. It was like the lake was trying to hold him in its embrace. His head started to feel fuzzy and his limbs were becoming heavy with sleep. There was something so comforting about the heat...

Taehyung gasped when he broke out of the surface. He felt hands pulling him on the rough ground.

"Taehyung *cough* are you ok- *cough* -ay?"

Taehyung nodded and held up the weed for Seokjin to stuff into his satchel.

"Oh, um."

Taehyung squinted up at Seokjin who had averted his eyes from Taehyung, his face pink. It took him a minute but Taehyung realised that his clothes were not immune to fire.

After a moment of horrifying awkwardness, a shirt was thrown at Taehyung who looked up to see Seokjin hugging his naked torso in a bashful manner. Taehyung wore Seokjin's thankfully lengthy shirt before he could stare too long at Seokjin's curved waist.

Soon, they were soaring in the sky, the landscape becoming a blur as Seokjin flew higher.

__________

"The lake is blood-thirsty. It knew you wouldn't be affected by the heat so it tried to lull you to eternal sleep," Seokjin explained two days afterwards as he tried to organise his table.

Emphasis on the "tried" because he had made no progress in the last thirty minutes. Everything looked just as haphazard as before.

"But it's strange, you know?" Seokjin said as he turned to Taehyung who was organising the new flower pots on the new shelves.

"What is?" He asked as he added an extra pinch of blue nutrition dust to the pot where he had dumped coffee last week.

"I learnt from Namjoon that Lava lake is a site of punishment. Those who are innocent, they would only be tortured by the heat because they are naturally vulnerable to it, but they won't die."