Horizon | Choi San

10

"I can't believe we decided to bring them all," Hongjoong muttered, drawing his dark cloak further down his forehead and Gaeul, who was walking beside him, snickered. "So much for staying anonymous."

"It was your idea," Gaeul pointed out, making Hongjoong scowl further. "Besides... the group of you really don't look like a normal group, I'm sorry."

Hongjoong paused with Gaeul, turning around to look at the rest of them who were... well, anything but normal. Each one was dressed differently for starters and it didn't look like they were travelling together or even to one place. Mingi looked like he had gotten out of bed, Seonghwa looked like he was going to a party, Yena and Yeosang stood out too much as they walked together- it would be obvious they were twins and twins among the fae were a rarity in the first place. Wooyoung and Jongho looked like they were trying to hide from the public, making it painfully obvious, and San and Yunho were dressed casually enough to pass as normal people. Hongjoong sighed and Gaeul raised a brow.

"I mean... you also look like you're trying too hard. Don't you guys travel in public?"

"I think it's the first time after Yena's marriage we're all travelling publicly like this," Hongjoong resumed walking. "We won't be able to travel undetected, and we can't portal because we don't know how portalling would react with your magic. I just wish we could leave some of them home-"

"You should have stayed home!" Wooyoung, who had somehow made it to the front from the very back, said. "You attract the most attention."

"Says the loudest one," Hongjoong muttered. "Let's just try to stay quiet until we reach the damned river."

Gaeul and Wooyoung snickered at that- it was Wooyoung's very own idea to walk to the river since it was near and they would have to ditch their rides anyway. It was barely forty minutes of walking through the town but already quite a few people had recognised the royals, and Gaeul had a feeling that even though they were masking their magic, they just had a certain aura to them that caught people's eyes. It made her feel out of place.

Gaeul decided to make small talk with Hongjoong in an attempt to wipe the frown off his face since Wooyoung somehow kept finding ways to annoy him, to everyone's amusement. Gaeul sent a glare in Wooyoung's direction before matching Hongjoong's pace and asking, "I've always wondered how light magic is different from the other elements, because we haven't really heard of instances where a person with nature magic could control light- or dark, for that matter. What makes it unique?"

A ghost of a smile crept up Hongjoong's face as he thought. "Light magic might possibly be more diverse than nature magic. Nature magic is unique because every 'natural' element can be controlled by nature users to some extent. Light magic... it's ambiguous. Like nature users can feel if something is wrong with nature itself, I can feel it too- as long as light in one form or another touches it."

"So you could feel my magic because of that?" Gaeul asked and Hongjoong nodded. "But how does light magic come in handy in battle?"

"Well, apart from the obvious which is blinding everyone, and I mean literally," Hongjoong smirked and Gaeul ooh-ed at that. "Light magic is the most dangerous because it can... heal."

"What?" Gaeul frowned. "Isn't that a good thing?"

"Imagine eating more medicine than prescribed," Hongjoong said, "Everything in excess is a poison. Light magic- mine, specifically, can enter anyone's mind even without direct contact and heal- or 'un-heal', as I call it."

"Basically he can just drive anyone mad with a little bit of his magic," Yeosang commented. "Hongjoong is the last person you want in front of you in a fight."