Swan Lake (ATEEZ JongSang story)

Chapter 16 - The Book Of Forest Lore

A/N: Sksksksksk this story is actually getting reads!! I know I say this basically every time but, oh, my, gosh!!! Thank you guys so much, it means a lot to me! I'd say votes and comments are appreciated but I don't want you to feel pressured - it just doesn't feel right to me if you vote for my story because I say it every chapter :D

Also I've just read some unpopular K-pop opinions (which always end up making me mad but whatever) and I'm feeling kinda bad for writing a fanfiction again, but I keep reminding myself that I'm re-writing a children's story and I'm not doing anything bad... right?
Okay, now that I cleared this up, back to our story!

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'It's here!! It's here! Mingi!!'

'What happened?' The unicorn woke up from his deep sleep to the shouting.

'Mingi! This random dude keeps shouting your name!' He heard Wooyoung's velociraptor screeching as the badger boy ran past him. Mingi shook his head and stood up. When he realized what happened, he was quick to wake up fully.

'OMG, Beomgyu! Yeosang, it's Gyu! He found the Book of Forest Lore!'

Beomgyu stood in front of Mingi with a proud expression on his face and with a heavy looking red book in his hands.

'Wait, this is the troll?' asked San with wide eyes. Mingi chuckled.

'Yes, he is the dangerous, huge, bloodthirsty troll you guys talked about.' They all looked at the small boy who was about a meter tall (or short lol) with messy brown hair and big eyes.

'Oh my god, you are so cute!' Wooyoung basically jumped on Beomgyu and started squishing his cheeks.

Yeosang appeared from the direction of the cliff. There was no sign of Jongho visiting that night, but considering that the ball was next day, Yeosang didn't even anticipate him. He just kinda missed his company. Yes, like a human being misses human company. It had nothing to do with the fact that he was falling for the prince. He'd never marry a baker's son anyways.

'Where was it?' questioned Yeosang as he accompanied the others who stood around Beomgyu in a circle.

'Uhh... I was kinda sitting on it' admitted Beomgyu shyly. Hongjoong peeked over the troll's shoulder. Yeosang smiled at the fact that the leader of the four elves had to stand on his tiptoes to be able to see what they have there.

'So, this is the book?' asked San, poking it with his finger. Seonghwa nodded.

'Open it, Yeosang' he reassured. Yeosang took the book from Beomgyu's smol hands. The crystal on his crown and the book started glowing at the same time and the lock opened.

'Woaaaaah' he heard the four elves' amazed chorus. He sat down with the book in his lap, the tiny boys, the troll, the unicorn and the fairy surrounding him. Now writing this really feels like a fever dream that a five year-old has.

Yeosang had no idea what to look for in the book, but it seemed like the book knew, as the pages started turning until they suddenly stopped. Yeosang cleared his throat and started reading.

'Only the owner of the magical crystal can defeat the evil who wants to take the enchanted forest out of its true king's or queen's hands' he read out loud. 'The crystal will choose its Chosen One when it gets taken out of its place by them. The only person that can take the crystal out is the Chosen One. Whoever the crystal chooses can defeat the evil with the power of true love.'

He looked up. 'Gosh, this is so cliché, couldn't they find out anything new?' He whined, but then continued reading.

'The power of true love is very uncommon, it only happens when someone loves their partner even more than themselves.'

Hongjoong blushed at that and looked at Seonghwa adoringly from the corner of his eyes. San sighed dreamily seeing it and laid his head on Wooyoung's shoulder.

'Ouch, Sani! Your spikes!' cried Wooyoung.

'Isn't loving yourself sometimes even harder than loving someone else?' thought out loud Yeosang looking up from the book. 'Can't just one fairy tale tell us about loving yourself instead of these stuff?'

'This is not a fairy tale' stated Seonghwa, which made everyone look at him with raised eyebrows. I mean he was the only fairy in their group. 'Well, maybe. But it's not a philosophy couse either, Yeosang. The book has the truth. And if it's about true love then it is, you can't change it.'

'I knew it! I knew it!! You and the prince! I'm going to be a godfather~'

'Mingi please, not now.'

'The story hasn't ended yet' said Yunho who meanwhile sat down in Yeosang's lap. 'It says that if the Chosen One's True Love falls for someone else and confesses their love for them, the crystal loses its power.'

'There's no way Prince Jongho has someone else' stated San.

'How do you know?' asked Yeosang. 'He is the crown prince. The heir to the throne. They are literally holding a ball for him to find his fiancé today!'

'Man, have you seen the way he looked at you?!' screeched Wooyoung. 'Also, he invited you personally to his party! Do you know what this means?!?!??!?!'

'Woo, whenever you start doing this nobody knows what you mean' sighed Seonghwa.

'He wants to ask you to marry him!' said Hongjoong. Yunho nodded.

'We have a lot to do!' jumped up San excitedly. Yeosang looked at him with questioning eyes. 'We have to get you ready for the ball!'