𝐑𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐍 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐔𝐒𝐓 || skz

CHAPTER 10: WHISPERS

Felix woke up by a commotion outside the storage house. He sat up with a start, his brain not quite awake yet and he looked around. The inside of the storage was still dark, save for the faint bit of light that he emitted and he could see Seungmin walking around, waking the others up.

"Wake Chan," Seungmin said as soon as he got eye contact with Felix. "Dongyul's soldiers have caught up with us."

That kicked Felix into action. He sat up, immediately turning to Chan who was asleep beside him.

"Chan," he said, trying to keep his voice low as he shook Chan awake. "You need to wake up." He looked around. "We need to leave. They're here." His heart was in his throat. "Chan. They're here."

Chan blinked a couple of times, his eyes sleepy and hooded until he seemed to realize what was going on. He sat up, scanning the room before getting up.

"Let's get our things," he said and Felix nodded.

With shaky hands, Felix began to gather his things as fast as he could. The commotion outside the barn continued and every now and then he could see flashes of orange from outside. It made his heart beat even faster and he found it difficult to try and pack as his hands trembled. He didn't know what time it was, but it was still dark outside.

"What is happening?" Hyunjin asked, fear so clear in his voice and beside him, Minho stood frozen, staring at the glowing orange outside the window. "Is... is that fire?"

"I think it is," Jeongin said, handing Hyunjin his bag.

Hyunjin inhaled sharply, taking his bag from Jeongin before grabbing Minho's hand. The two forest spirits looked at each other for a long while, seeming to communicate silently. Minho tightened the grip of his small pouch.

"Come on!" Chan said, helping Felix get his bag onto his back before pulling him out of the storage house.

When they got out on the street, it seemed like the chaos had fully enveloped the village and it was a terrifying sight.

"We need to leave," Seungmin said, looking over their group. "We all need to get out and meet up in Sysiweald."

The group began to head down the road, but they were quickly getting separated in the chaos. Hyunjin and Minho's distress was clear and Jeongin seemed to put his focus into getting the forest spirits out of the utter chaos around them.

People were screaming and running for their lives. Some buildings were on fire and Felix's heart felt like it was breaking in half. Children cried for their families as they got lost in the commotion. Above them, the heavy flapping of wings were heard and Felix looked up to see an unfamiliar, green dragon.

They ran through the streets, occasionally bumping into another panicked citizen of Mondum and Felix felt like crying. This destruction was completely unnecessary. These people had done nothing wrong. This was all happening because of him.

"We need to help them!" Felix screamed, pulling at Chan's arm to get him to pause.

"We can't, Felix!" Seungmin protested, looking to Chan for help.

"We need to get you out of here," Chan said, looking between Felix and Seungmin. "We can't stop to help people."

"But they- They're getting hurt because of me!"

"They're getting hurt because the soldiers are looking for you," Seungmin said, pulling at Felix's arm but Felix tried to resist. "The quicker we get you out of here, the quicker they'll leave the village alone. If they see you leave, there is no reason for them to continue to burn the village."