𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐑𝐒

#.. TWELVE

they were lucky that the full moon came around the following night. because one is only able to enter the spirit world, when the moon shines in its full glory.

hyeongjun was already ready, walking towards the temple he always prays in. secretly. no one uses it anymore, it's forgotten and abandoned deep in the woods.

but for hyeongjun, the wall between the spirit and the real world was the thinnest, so he always prayed there.

kneeling in front of the spirit lord's statue, he lit the candles around them with precise fire bending, watching the smoke get up towards the ceiling.

jiseok was sitting right behind him, being told that he had to touch hyeongjun's head. in order to enter the spirit world, the firebender had to clean and open up his chakras.

the crown chakra was the last, once that one is freed, they'd immediately find themselves in the spirit world.

the others were still in the small hut, getting to know each other a little bit. jiseok kept thinking about how they were, but hyeongjun was fully in his element.

he started mumbling something in an ancient language, jiseok didn't understand it. the zonai  used to roam the small world, being able to bend every single element.

they had an excellent connection to the spirit world, cooperating together whenever they needed the others help.

over the span of a thousand years, the zonai evolved due to the different climate regions. the ones living at the coast were only able to bend water, the ones living in hot and dry areas were only able to bend fire and so on.

one day, all of the zonai went extinct. they tried to pass on the language, but people forgot it quickly. now, only the spirits were able to communicate in the ancient language.

so at first, jiseok was a little confused, before reminding himself that hyeongjun is indeed a spirit.

soon, a red fire appeared in front of them. jiseok shrugged in shock, but hyeongjun kept on mumbling, his palms together as he raised them towards the ceiling.

jiseok's hand was still on the top of his head, even though his arm started to get pretty tired. he was glad it went rather fast then.

once the red fire was ignited, other flames in different colors started surrounding them, jiseok knew that they were the colors of their chakras.

"close your eyes" hyeongjun muttered quietly, not seeing, but feeling jiseok being wide eyed, looking around in surprise.

he immediately complied, shutting his eyes. it got hotter and hotter, jiseok assumed that the flames got closer and closer. but he trusted hyeongjun, he knew what he was doing.

just as he felt a slight twinge of the flame dancing besides his arm, he felt like floating for a small second. then it was cold, ice cold.

hyeongjun put his hands on the floor and bowed in front of the statue, whispering something in the language before standing up again.

"welcome to the spirit world" hyeongjun smiled, jiseok saw it as his cue to open his eyes. and be surprised. it looked exactly like the real world. at least in the temple.

walking outside, jiseok was stunned to see nothing. literally nothing, no trees, no pathways, just ground. and fog.

"uh.." he stuttered. "how are we supposed to see anything in here?" this made hyeongjun chuckle and he facepalmed himself. "right, gotta open your third eye."

his fingers slightly touched the space between the eyebrows, jiseok immediately felt the warmth that spread through it, yet no effect yet.

"are you really sure you want to do this?" hyeongjun asked. was it really this much of a deal? "this is the last step you have to take in order to enter our world."

the young airbender nodded. "if that's what it takes to save the real world." and immediately, jiseok's head started hurting.

it felt like hyeongjun was sending fire through his veins, he was sweating a lot. but he kept standing, gritting his teeth.

even though his eyes were opened, he started seeing less and less. the ground underneath his feet faded out, hyeongjun also started to blur out. until he actually started to see nothing.

"um, is this nor-" jiseok interrupted himself, as he felt himself seeing again, but not from the place where his eyes were.

hyeongjun smiled in triumph. "now you must be blind but still see, even though your normal eyes don't work."

and he was right. jiseok took a look around and was surprised to see them being inside a forrest again. from afar, there seemed to be a village and hyeongjun walked directly in that direction.

"gyuri must be there" the airbender quickly figured that gyuri must be his brother's spirit. but what was about his own? would he live with gunil's?

if they were related in the spirit world too, then it must mean that he'd be near. yet if he sees himself, that'd bring bad luck.

taking a deep breath, jiseok decided that he was just overthinking. even though hyeongjun did tell him that it's dangerous.

this can't be the only reason, right?