Horizon | Choi San

22

Gaeul had made her decision.

For the people who loved her, for the family she had found in them, but most importantly, for herself, she made the decision to live and restore the soulmate bond so it would stop killing both San and herself.

She could live with this magic. She could live being 'the Queen of the Underworld' as they were calling her. If she managed to restore her soulmate bond with San and her yin-yang element remained intact, she might even be able to tap into San's power and share it. It wouldn't be her own, and it would probably be too dangerous to even try, but...

Gaeul smiled to herself- perhaps it was a gift that her soulmate was San who possessed pretty much the same elemental power as her original magic. She would find solace in San even magically. Perhaps, it was meant to be this way.

Besides, her new magic wasn't all that bad, Gaeul was realising. There was much more than wilting nature- she had a whole new element now. She could master that and venture further into the unexplored territories of her magic- hopefully, her magic wouldn't have those spontaneous outbursts of uncontrolled power now. If it could get less chaotic and controllable... she could deal with that.

"What are you thinking?" Yeosang gave Gaeul a funny look, having spotted her smiling as they prepared to contact the rest and tell them about Gaeul's decision. Yena had taken to explaining what they had talked about with the Panthers earlier, knowing Seonghwa would be distraught and feel the same as she felt- like somehow, this was all their fault when they, too, were simply chess pieces in the game of time.

"I'm thinking that I wished I had known how much my perspective of life would have changed if I had simply been a bit more optimistic about the future," Gaeul almost muttered the last part, making Yeosang laugh out loud.

"There's a reason pessimists exist," Yeosang grinned, "so there's someone to ground the optimists."

"You should simply be a 'realist'," Mingi commented, handing Gaeul a sliced piece of peach that he had found in one of the stalls in town and was binge-eating.

"Wasn't I a realist?" Gaeul asked.

"I was the only one with a remotely realistic perspective-"

"No, that's me," Yunho intervened and before the two could argue, Yena clapped to get everyone's attention.

"Gaeul- it's time to tell San what your decision is and bring him here- Hongjoong should have explained everything to him by now."

While Yena waited for Gaeul to exit the group that was pointing fingers at each other now, Neve elbowed her. "Do you reckon we bring everyone here? Just in case? The faeries and darklings might not be enough."

"Oh?" Yena wondered. "But the Panthers said something about them having the same powers-"

"Come on, think about it," Neve looked at the group. "All of them are connected to Gaeul magically in some way, right? Yunho and Mingi with ice and fire for the cold flame, Yeosang being a bridge to two worlds like Gaeul, and you," Neve looked at Yena. "Gaeul can probably willingly open portals to the Underworld."

"Seonghwa with the darkness of their magic," Yena continued, seeing Neve's point, "Jongho with his nature magic, but what about Wooyoung and Hongjoong?"

"The only elements that might be able to combat her magic," Neve smiled in satisfaction. "The Panthers should have just kidnapped you lot and made things easier for everyone."

Yena laughed at that and Gaeul finally joined the two. Yena immediately opened the portal, not wanting to waste more time- the rest were gathered in Wooyoung's room with San, who immediately brightened as soon as he spotted Gaeul, waving enthusiastically at her. Neve opened the other portal to the Panthers and three of them entered this time. Gaeul explained what decision she had made and Neve told them how it might help with her decision if all the elementals were present. When they agreed, they gave them some space and Yena smiled at Seonghwa.