Feel the Fire (Yoonseok) ✔

Chapter 2

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 2
"ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴛᴀʀᴛɪɴɢ ʟɪɴᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴀɴ ᴀᴅᴠᴇɴᴛᴜʀᴇ"

An uncomfortable silence was draped over the room. Hoseok shrunk under the expectant gaze of their visitors. They were all sat at their cramped kitchen table, the two guards on one side and Hoseok with his sister and father opposite of them. Under the wooden board, out of view from the soldiers, his sister was holding his hand. She ran her thumb over the back of his hand in means to calm him, a habit she had picked up throughout the years. Hoseok was not completely sure who needed the reassuring touch more.

One of the guards picked up his goblet, taking a sip from the water it held. They didn't have anything else in the house. His father had offered to boil some water and gather some herbs to make tea, but the guards very much preferred just water. They reasoned that they had made a long journey and would rather have something cold. His father had just nodded, walking to the well in their town to gather some water, preserving the little firewood Hoseok and his sister had gathered for the fire to keep them warm.

It shone an ominous light on the strangers' faces. The light cast shadows on the men's faces yet it also gave them a golden glow akin to the sun, making the dips in their faces much more evident. Hoseok could see their expressions much more clearly now that they weren't wearing helmets. They were unlike any person he had ever seen before. Even the traders and travellers that somethings crossed their village were nothing like the two men in front of him.

One man had fair skin and blue eyes. He was definitely foreign, maybe from the north. Hoseok had a hard time guessing his age. The man looked younger than his father but he was taller than all of them as well as broader. The other soldier had dark skin and even darker eyes, nearly black. His face looked kind but empty as that of all soldiers. His features stood out, muscles hugging his form. It was clear they were both well-trained, raised on being bigger and stronger. It made them only more intimidating.

"You can calm down. We're not here to arrest you," the man said. Hoseok let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding.

He was very nervous sitting across from a guard. Everything he had ever done wrong in his life replayed before his eyes as he waited for the man to speak. His mind was racing yet couldn't figure out why they would ever come here, even less for him. Without meaning to do so, he could feel his heart pick up speed and his breathing get rougher. He only gripped his sister's hand tighter who followed the movement.

"I'm here for a request," the soldier announced in a low tone. Hoseok raised an eyebrow in intrigue. It wasn't clear to him what the guards would ever want with him. He was only a simple farmer with some hunting skills. He hadn't contributed anything from society outside of his village. He hadn't even been further than the forest in his life.

"What favour?" Hoseok asked, his voiced laced with uncertainty.

"According to some of our sources you possess magic, is this true?" the man asked.

Hoseok looked over to the side, staring at his father in his peripheral vision. He wasn't sure what to say, after all, he didn't know what the guards needed him for. He didn't want to run the risk of telling them something that could be used against him. After all stories of sorcerer's powers fall into the wrong hands had plagued them in bedtime stories and telegrams alike, and they had definitely left their mark. For a moment he reverted to that little child, sitting in his bed as his mother recited stories of ancient adventures full of sorcery and morales. He wondered whether he should've learned a lesson from them. It all fell away when his father simply nodded, giving him permission to speak the truth.

"Yes," Hoseok said. One of the guards leaned under the table only to rumble inside his bag for a minute. He laid a piece of paper on the table and quickly jotted something down.