White Sand Hourglass; Yeonbin

4

(UNEDITED)
Yeonjun opened his eyes slowly.

He could still hear the fireplace on and small chattering.

The room was darker than before.

"What are we going to do with him?" Yeonjun heard Kai ask. There was a bit of silence before he heard Soobin's voice.

"Take him back, what else are we supposed to do?" Soobin answered his voice sounding low and deep. There was a wave added along his line, which caused a shiver to run down the older boy's back.

"Is there a way for him to go back home?" Taehyun asked. Yeonjun frowned his eyebrows as he laid on his side, hearing the conversations of the guardians. "Do you think he was sent here for a reason?" Beomgyu added.

"Reason or not, he doesn't belong. He needs to go back home" Soobin answered his voice becoming even more cold and serious, it almost made Yeonjun feel like a gush of cold air had entered but all the windows were still locked. "What if he was sent by the gods? To stop your hourglass from running out? What if he is the answer to stopping eternal winter and getting everything back to normal?" Kai asks.

Hourglass? There was a mid-silence, nothing could be heard except the fireplace that sparked. Along with the low echoing of an owl outside.

"If he was sent by the gods, we would know but for right now we need to do our best to take him back and not be found by the narculises" Soobin responds his voice becoming normal once again. "Let's go to sleep now,".

"You guys can go sleep on the bed, I will just rest here," the winter guardian says. There was another killing silence before Yeonjun heard soft footsteps. The three guardians went to bed on the second bed that sat beside the one Yeonjun was laying in. The prince could only stare at Soobin's figure that was looking at the fire not moving at all. It almost made Yeonjun feel sad, there was this aura surrounding Soobin that made him feel hurt and somewhat broken.

Yeonjun just continued to stare at Soobin's silhouette figure before his eyes felt heavy and finally collapsed within themselves pulling him to sleep, the hourglass being the only thought in his head.

-----

"Here, Taehyun made it this morning," Kai says serving Yeonjun a bowl of radish soup and some hot herbal tea. "Thank you," Yeonjun says. The older boy looks around and notices that no one else was in sight except Beomgyu who sat on the couch. "Where did Soobin and Taehyun go?" the prince asks taking a sip from the tea.

"They went outside to check on the animals and their hibernation sessions, many have died during it for the long years but many have been able to survive for this long. Soobin has been trying ways to get them to survive longer but it's almost impossible" Kai explains taking a bite from a carrot.

Yeonjun scoops up some soup and places it in his mouth, Taehyun must be an amazing cook to make such delicious food with the lack of resources they have. "I have a question, how come the narculises placed a curse here?" Yeonjun asks placing his spoon down and looking up at the younger boy.

"No one really knows, it was said that the narculises were jealous of the winter guardian. He was placed in charge by the gods to take care of nature, his beauty and power were a threat to them" Kai says sitting down on the edge of the bed while looking at the prince.

"Who exactly are the narculises, they can't possibly be more powerful than you guys right?" Yeonjun asks frowning.

"The narculises were angels that rebelled and caused torture in our land, we fought against them for years until something occurred and Soobin's powers disappeared" Kai answers his expression becoming sad, "after that, our powers became weak against them" The boy adds.