haven - zb1

35

It was strange how they all drifted to sleep at the Solar Hall, despite them being pretty certain that they could handle staying up till ungodly hours, but they brushed it off when they woke. Breakfast was as ordinary and pleasant as it always was, finishing quickly like usual.

They chatted and lazed around basking in the sun at the training grounds, before Jiwoong urged them to do some work. Zhang Hao was the first to leap up, drawing his sword to jokingly gesture around, before he froze. His weapon slid from his hand, and Hanbin jolted up instantly, "What's wrong?"

Zhang Hao looked up, his eyes wide and fingers trembling. "I can't feel any water. I can't feel my powers."

"What?" Jiwoong stood up shakily, in a moment of epiphany he extended his arms to test, nearly leaping backwards when a small jet of water erupted from his fingertips. "No way," Gunwook muttered, he too standing up, "No fucking way-"

"Language," Jiwoong still managed to chide while staring horrified at his fingers. "Hang on, if you and Zhang Hao got it-" Quanrui cupped his hands, in an attempt to summon a ball of fire, but was shocked when a gust of wind slammed into his face instead.

"Oh my god-" Now Taerae tried, and he all but screeched when he too was greeted with a spout of water from his palm.

"Okay, okay," Zhang Hao seemed desperate to wrap his head around it, "Jiwoong and Taerae both have water now, Quanrui is air, what about the rest?"

Woohyun yelped as the ground around him sprouted mini green shoots, earning Zhang Hao one answer. Yujin gave it a try and gasped when fire danced at his fingers.

"Gyuvin...this is your fault," Gunwook said, half teasing, half panicked, "Is this the challenge? I mean, yes, it is a challenge, but-"

"Everyone, if you haven't tried, let's test it now," Hanbin was desperately trying to remain calm, a vein in his neck throbbing from the stress.

Hanbin, like Woohyun, was now an earth user. Gyuvin and Zhang Hao, it seemed, had swapped, Gyuvin the water user and Zhang Hao the air user. Gunwook was now a fire user.

"This is gonna be interesting!" Gunwook tried to remain upbeat and positive, as his left eye started twitching.

"This means...we're gonna have to get through the challenge with these new powers...right?" Gyuvin asked.

"Maybe this is the challenge, as Gunwook said," Woohyun looked incredibly pained, "Maybe we'll just have to live two weeks with this!"

"Or maybe forever," Yujin added gravely.

"Okay, okay, we can work with this!" Zhang Hao tried to maintain a calm composure, "We just have to help each other out! How difficult could it be?"

Quanrui raised his hand to ask a question and accidentally blasted air from his hand, the force sending him toppling backwards. "It's gonna be very difficult," He groaned as he sat up.

-

Even an hour later, they were still struggling. Gunwook stared, enamoured, at his flaming hands, more amazed that his skin was not burning than the fact that he was wielding a foreign power he had no control of.

Quanrui looked devastated, sitting with his fists clenched in an effort to stop air from gushing from his palms, looking like an upset child.

"Guys, let's try doing something," Zhang Hao pleaded, unfortunately in the same boat as Quanrui, he too has his hands clasped together tightly.

"Who's having the hardest time?" Gyuvin asked, then took in the pitiful sight of Quanrui. "Air might be the easiest to teach," Yujin chimed in, he had already gotten a decent grasp of his new fire powers, little tendrils of flames wrapped at his wrists.

"Quanrui, you gotta relax. That's the only way to control the air," Gyuvin advised. Quanrui made a face, it was evident relaxing was the last thing he was capable of doing.

"Woohyun you should probably get up," Taerae suggested, "You're gonna be swallowed by the ground soon." Indeed, vines and roots were clustered around Woohyun who was lying flat on the ground, the earth forming an outline of his body.

The only one who was having a great time was Gunwook. While every now and then the ball of fire he was playing with would grow out of hand, the only casualties from his antics were a few blades of burnt grass.

"Let's try sparring," Hanbin announced, "We don't know how bad it'll be until we try."

"That's your logic?" Jiwoong asked, aghast. "Hanbin, none of us can heal right now," Zhang Hao cationed, "Unless we teach either Gyuvin or Jiwoong but that took us years to master, what makes you think-"

"Guys," Taerare interrupted, "If we keep questioning and worrying, we'll just spiral out of control and not get anything done. Let's actually try what Hanbin says. The only way to figure out if we can even use these new powers is if we test them out."

"Let's have those who have a...decent grasp on their new powers try sparring," Hanbin said, casting a quick look at Zhang Hao and Quanrui, who both resorted to sitting on their hands to stop the air.

"Wait, do we use...our own weapons?" Yujin suddenly asked. Jiwoong made another face (they were making a lot of those today). "Technically....our weapons are not meant for other powers."

"Are you...suggesting we swap?"

Gunwook's hand closed protectively around his bow, Woohyun cheekily hid his sword behind his back.

"We could..." Zhang Hao said, "Except we don't know how to use them."

Gyuvin raised his chin to stare up at the sky, "Should we have spent the two weeks doing that?"

"Probably."

"It's too late for that," Taerae chastised, "Let's give it a try."

Gyuvin flicked his fan and only a sprinkling of fine mist appeared at the edge of his weapon. Gunwook tugged at his bowstring before he faltered, "I can't create arrows anymore. Unless I make them out of fire-"

"Don't-" Was the unanimous response, and Gunwook lowered his bow, disappointed.

"Okay," Hanbin rubbed his temple, "Then we gotta swap. There's no other way. For us to be safe, that is."

They all lay their weapons side by side, categorised by houses. Gunwook excitedly went for Quanrui's spear, its owner looking so defeated he couldn't care less. The House of water swords were basically identical and easily allocated among the three new water users. Hanbin and Woohyun adopted Taerae and Gunwook's bows respectively, Zhang Hao accepted Yujin's white fan, the rest took whatever was available.

While they tested their freshly borrowed weapons, hefting them in their hands and slashing them through the air, suddenly, a shrill screech sounded out from a distance.

After they recovered from the shock, they all stood there, unsure what to do.

"Was that...a spirit?"

"No way," Taerae said again, "We can't have an emergency now, I can't fight with swords!"

Quanrui was shaken out of his dazed state to shoot a judgemental look at Taerae, "You've never trained with swords before?"

Taerae scoffed, "That was never a priority for us. Earth users are long-ranged! And we use bows! Why do we need to-"

"Guys, we better figure out what that was," Zhang Hao said as he snapped Yujin's fan shut. Falling silent, the nine ran off in that direction.