haven - zb1

40

"Yujin."

He was being slowly shaken awake, when he finally peeled his eyes open, Hanbin was crouched next to him with a soft smile.

"There's our last one up," Taerae joyfully announced, bouncing on his heels.

As Yujin shakily got to his feet, they all gathered closer. "How do you feel?" Jiwoong asked gently.

"Wha-"

"We've all reached nova now."

As they marvelled and awed at each other's new display of their strength, a whirlwind of emotions stirred within Yujin. If this was the end, then...were they to part ways?

Then, a strange sound erupted, as if a drum had been struck loudly, knocking them all out of their relaxed state. As they reeled from the shock, Taerae threw his hands up, "I thought we were done!"

"Apparently not."

"At least we have our own powers now," Hanbin managed a smile as they grabbed their weapons and went over to investigate.

Before them, a familiar spirit, now a dull green, lay still and dead. And in front of the corpse, was a churning vortex, a circular form that was hazy and dark.

Everyone was silent, trying to wrap their minds around the crazy things that just kept coming.

"Oh my god, don't tell me we have to go through that," Taerae breathed.

"I had hoped we were done," Woohyun lamented.

"Before I left that...milky place, the guy, Taehyun, said he wanted us to do one last thing," Yujin said gravely.

A pause, then Gyuvin meekly asked, "Did he want all of us to do it?"

Yujin nodded, then added, "All he said was 'have an open mind'. What do you reckon that means?"

Woohyun shuddered slightly, fist tightening around the handle of his sword, "I have no clue, but I think we have to go through this..." He struggled to find a word, so Zhang Hao helpfully supplied, "Portal?"

"What if we don't get to return?" Gunwook asked, voicing out an unspoken concern they all had. After a bout of silence, Hanbin suddenly said, "If we truly met Taehyun, as our ancestor, I believe he'd have our best intentions at heart. I think, for lack of better words, we should just...take a leap of faith."

Feeling slightly moved and motivated by Hanbin's wise words, they nine exchanged nervous but determined looks, before, one by one, Hanbin leading first, they stepped through the portal.

When they emerged through the other side, they all had to do a double take, because everything looked the same. They were in a forest, no doubt, but the greenery looked identical to the one they were surrounded with back at Celestial Palace. Gunwook and Taerae too confirmed that the plants were normal, they responded and bent to their will.

"Well, when in doubt, let's just walk around," Woohyun cheerfully suggested, and with no feasible alternative, they did exactly that.