haven - zb1

37

With Hanbin's mentoring, Jiwoong freshened up with a splash of water and got up to his feet. The rest, now recovered from the fight, all stood in a loose circle.

"Now what?" Gunwook asked as he wiped a fleck of dirt off the tip of his spear, "I doubt that was the whole challenge. Should we wait around or..."

Unsure, everyone exchanged anxious glances, Hanbin snuck a peek at Jiwoong, who still was in the midst of processing. Hanbin quickly cleared his throat, "Let's take a rest for now, eat if you're hungry and take a nap if you need. But whatever it is, let's not be alone. I think the best is if we stayed within our houses."

With everyone content with this suggestion, they all parted ways, Gunwook dragging Taerae to their room to dig out their snack stash, Gyuvin and Yujin deciding to go snooze in the quiet shelter of the Lunar Pavilion.

Jiwoong stumbled off to go wash up, so Quanrui trailed after him.

As Jiwoong leaned over a basin of water, Quanrui wordlessly standing behind him, Jiwoong suddenly said, "Stop worrying about me."

Startled, Quanrui defensively folded his arms across his chest, "What?"

Jiwoong wiped his mouth with his sleeve, "I'm fine, you don't have to pretend and hover around me like my father."

For the first time, Quanrui was completely speechless, his expression a mixture of hurt and concern. Jiwoong bit his lip, registering how cold his statement was, then he sighed as he gripped the basin. "Sorry. Seeing Jay's face was..." He trailed off, staring at the ground for a second, before he straightened, "I'm fine, so you just keep doing you, okay?" He pat Quanrui on the shoulder and went to collect his sword from where it leaned against the wall.

Quanrui seemed like he wanted to say something, then a loud sound rang out, similar to the first shrill noise. Then, a thin spiral of fire shot into the air. They exchanged a quick look before they both ran off in that direction.

They quickly gathered with the water and earth heirs, the air heirs were hurrying over. Woohyun was crouched beside the corpse of a spirit, his expression grim.

"Looks like the second part is gonna start soon," Zhang Hao nervously shifted his weight, gripping his fan tighter.

The sky abruptly darkened, as if it were to rain. Wind began to pick up dust and dirt from the ground, and some started to squint and shield their faces.

Then, the gates to the Celestial Palace creakily swung open, the usual forest beyond the gates now shrouded in eerie darkness.

"If that isn't a sign, I don't know what is," Taerae piped up, attempting to sound upbeat but unable to conceal a slight tremor in his voice.

"Well then," Hanbin grabbed his bow from where it lay on the ground, "Let's go check it out."

As they walked out the gates, away from what was familiar and safe, Yujin cast one last look at the palace, before he stepped out the gates along with the others.

Gunwook couldn't help but take a peek, then he gasped, "I can't see the Palace anymore." They all spun to take a look, and in place of the palace was just thick grey fog.

"I hate mist now," Gyuvin announced. Hanbin turned his attention ahead, where the same thick mist choked the space. The faint green outline of the trees and greenery around them were getting harder and harder to see, but still, they pressed on.

Finally, when the fog was way too much to bear, Zhang Hao and Quanrui worked together to clear the air so they could at least see beyond their nose.

Then they all sucked in a sharp breath as they took in the sight before them

They were in a large plain, the sky was now a strange reddish colour, bright with lightning and stormy grey clouds. The ground was even less pleasant, an uneven, rocky plain of dark brown soil.

What was perhaps a kilometre away was a large, smooth boulder of brown jade, glinting invitingly, the red of the sky adding a menacing rose gleam to the stone.

Just then, a blue floating screen, similar to the one at Solar Hall, appeared before them.

Stage 3: ?????

Task: All heirs must touch the jade stone within the time limit.

Reward: ???????

Penalty: death for all parties

They took in the shining screen bearing these ominous descriptions, before Taerae broke the silence, "It seems that we have to touch that thing."

"That sounds wrong."

"Shut up."

"We'll die if we don't," Zhang Hao shifted his weight, raising his eyebrow at the screen.

"How hard could it be? It's right there," Woohyun remarked.

And then it all went wrong. As Yujin took a single step forward, the group began rumbling, and large cracks began forming. Then, what seemed to be jets of black liquid came rushing out through certain large cracks.

As the nine took in the sight, they quickly realised it wasn't liquid they were seeing, it was clusters and hoards of dark monstrous creatures that flew with ragged wings or growled with fangs and claws.

They all took some time to process the vast army before them, before Gunwook cheerfully remarked, "Oh joy, we get the best of both worlds now. Not only do we get the body swap, we get the beast Woohyun wanted!"

"I didn't want it!" Woohyun protested, "It was a suggestion!"

"And the damn spirits took your suggestion-"

"Technically, we didn't swap bodies-"

"Also, it's not singular beast-"

"Children-"

"Guys why don't we focus on killing those things, then we can bicker on the fineprint alright?" Zhang Hao yelled.

A pause, before Gyuvin timidly asked, "Can they be killed?"

"Only one way to find out," Quanrui said, deathly serious, for a person holding a fan.

"This is gonna be fun," Gunwook said with a sharp, excited glint in his eyes.

AN: a little surprise chapter since im stress writing