Wowderful world ☆ [Wow (A.C.E) fanfiction]

[Chapter 8]

"We'll get there by the evening if we speed up a little." Donghun sighs, slowly getting up.
DH: "I miss home, I miss a good night sleep."
"I always make sure you get enough food and get atleast eight hours sleep. If you want to take it easy, we can. It was you who insisted on getting home as soon as possible."
CH&BK: "Oooh."
DH: "Right." This is the first time the boys have seen Donghun not fight back and just shy away and listen.

It takes a whole day to get to the next village. The landscapes keep changing between valleys and forests. The hills get higher and higher. The sun is already setting when you arrive.
"I present to you, Ignis."
"Whao~" they all say in unison.
DH: "It looks a little creepy to be honest."
"Well, that's mostly because it's the village that Kazangan has drained the most. Fire is very strong and destructive. It's logical he'd want those powers the most."
CH: "I wonder who's going to have fire powers. Only Donghun and Junhee are left."
DH: "I wouldn't mind having fire as a power."
CH: "I think you just jinxed it, hyung."
BK: "You're too savage to have powers like that."
DH: "Could you kids just leave me alone already?! Once I get those powers you're really going to regret saying that!" The two maknaes chuckle.
J: "Let's just go and get a place to sleep."

This time you let the boys sleep in. You walk through the village, buying more supplies for the journey. As you are picking out some fruit at a market, the seller asks curiously:
"Where are you going to?" The creature isn't particularly male nor female, but kind.
"Probably Rongo village."
"Rongo village?" She asks surprised.
"Yes. Is there something wrong?"
"Well I'd advise you to be careful. Lately there have been a few attacks from soldiers close to the village. Apparently it's the worst in the oracle village."
"How come?"
"There have been quite a few attacks already on the oracle village. Rongo village is also in danger."
"I didn't know it was that bad."
"It's quite a new item. But travellers are spreading the news." The creature sighs. "I wonder how long we're still going to last."
Nothing but compassion. You feel just as bad, just as afraid for your world.
"Thank you for letting me know."
"No problem. Be careful."
"I will."

Once again you and the five members go to the temple. But this time the temple is a lot bigger. It's placed high, with a view to the whole village. It looks more like a city than a village. Dark buildings with not much daylight because it lies in between two mountains. But there is fire everywhere, to keep it warm and illuminated. It does have a sort of creepy feeling. Or more of a dying feeling. As if there isn't much happiness left. It hurts you to see the once flourishing city so destroyed and decayed.
When you arrive at the temple after walking a lot of steps, you see a bridge and then the temple. There's a lot of mist. But fire inside the temple keeps it bright enough. As you enter there's a creature inside, meditating. His legs crossed over each other, he's slightly hovering above the ground. He has dark red hair and looks a little buff. It's as if you can almost see fire powers radiating from him. He's clearly from this village.
CH: "Maybe we should wait a little," the youngest whispers.
"It's okay. I was just finishing," a low voice echoes through the room. His body slowly comes to the ground and he stands up while turning around. "You're going to Kul Tamar aren't you?" Everyone looks at each other in surprise. "No need to worry, I don't have any bad intentions."
SY: "How do you know that we're going there?"
"He's a spiritual creature."
"Which means that I can foretell some things. Besides I could help you with certain information about Kul Tamar."
J: "You could?"
"Yes."
BK: "Do we have to pay something to get information?" Byeongkwan whispers to you.
"No," you chuckle, "we don't do such things like they do on earth."
BK: "Oh."
"I won't ask anything from you, I only want to help."
DH: "Why?"
"Because, our world is in danger and this village is having really hard times." You try to tell him about the boys, but he's quicker. "I know you only want to go back to your own world. But if you change your mind, there are a few things I can tell you."
J: "Okay, we're listening."
"As I keep myself busy spiritually, I have scanned the spiritual energy from Kul Tamar. It is very big. So you'll have to find a way to sneek into Kazangan's palace without being noticed. I have also recently noticed that the essence of the army's power lies within Kazangan."
SY: "What do you mean by that?"
"That without Kazangan, or if he loses his powers, the army's power will also weaken. Though the mentality of the soldiers is strong so even if he is defeated, I think the army will still attack." Everyone looks down, a little discouraged. "The last thing I can tell you is that Kazangan is very strong. His powers are immense. He has drained a lot from the villages, of course mostly Ignis. Which means that the member that will get the fire powers will be most resistant to his attacks. But most importantly, he'll be the weakest against water."
DH: "Good we have Sehyoon."
"You're lucky that he's the strongest one."
BK: "What do you mean strongest? Is he the strongest among us?"
"Yes. His powers are the strongest out of the five of you." All the attention goes to Sehyoon.
SY: "How do you know I'm the strongest?" He asks a little awkwardly, with all eyes on him.
"How many times do I have to repeat that I can see spiritual things. So I can also see who radiates the most of his powers."
BK: "But two still don't have their powers, so how can you know?"
"That's just something I can feel. I can already tell that Jun's powers will be stronger than Donghun's."
CH: "Oooh." Donghun has a pissed expression on his face, while Jun is trying not to smile.
"That doesn't mean that Donghun's powers will be less important. You all need each other." Suddenly the mentally of the group has gotten stronger. They all believe in each other. They know they can trust one another.
"Thank you so much for this sharing your knowledge," you bow.
"No need to thank me, I'm glad to be of help. This village is very desperate." He has a downhearted expression for a few seconds but then snaps out of it.
J: "Do you by any chance know what these riddles might mean?" Jun gives him the two pieces of paper.
°•~ It's name was once known differently. Follow what is most similar. ~•°
°•~On a forgotten path a flower will bloom that takes the appearance of the night. ~•°
"I'm a spiritual creature, not a genius."
J: "So you don't know?"
"No, I'm sorry. Even I have my limits of knowledge. Anyway, before I leave I want to tell you one more thing." He looks specifically at you. "You are more important for this than you think." He leaves without looking back.
CH: "What did he mean by that? Why did he say it to you?"
"I don't know..."
SY: "Doesn't matter for now. Let's search for the next clue." This time Chan finds it in one of the cracks in the walls.
°•~ There where people see him the most, is where you'll find your way home through the untouchable object. ~•°
CH: "Untouchable object? Could it be the twin box? Is the twin box somehow untouchable?"
SY: "Maybe unreachable."
DH: "Well how are we going to get back home if it's untouchable or unreachable?"
SY: "Maybe they're not even talking about the twin box."
"We'll figure it out. I'm sure there is a solution."
You go back down to the village. You lay the map on the ground and crouch.
"So, we can go to Rongo village, which is a three days walk. But it's kind of a detour. So we could walk three days to Rongo village and then four days to the oracle village. Or we could skip Rongo village and go directly to the Shae Loya, which would take about four-five days. Depends on how many obstacles we encounter."
CH: "Obstacles? You mean monsters."
"Yeah." I'll tell them later.
DH: "I'd prefer if we would just go to that oracle village right away."
"Shae Loya."
DH: "Yes, that."
"Does everyone agree with Donghun?" They all nod. "Very well. Shae Loya it is."

You leave Ignis and the two mountains it was located in. The surroundings stay mountain-like for a while. It makes it harder to go at a fast and steady pace. You have a rest during the day. Because of all the climbing, everyone is a little tired.
DH: "Oof. This is worse than work-out." He says as he throws himself on the ground. You give them something to eat.
"Guys...there might be small complication to the route." Everyone stays silent and attentive. "At the market someone told me that apparently Rongo village and Shae Loya have had a few attacks from soldiers."
BK: "Like soldiers from Kul Tamar?"
"Eung... I don't know if they will attack anytime soon again. I have no idea how it is there at the moment. We'll just...have to be careful."
SY: "One of the two members will get the fire powers soon. So we'll be able to defend ourselves properly...I think."
J: "Maybe it's best if we train some more while travelling."
BK: "Good idea."
CH: "Though I'm really curious who's going to get those fire powers," Chan looks at his two hyungs.
After the pause, you continue for a little longer. Slowly the environment gets more plain. You walk through high grass for a long time. Until you enter a forest again. All this while, Sehyoon and Chan have been practicing their powers. But Byeongkwan couldn't really practice, since nobody is hurt. Maybe it's better this way.
You settle and Byeongkwan sighs as he sits down.
BK: "I really want to be able to practice atleast somehow."
DH: "Try healing that tree."
BK: "That's not funny, hyung."
DH: "I'm serious. Have a look," he points. Byeongkwan looks where Donghun is pointing and sees a cracked branch. It's quite a thick branch. Byeongkwan decides to try it and goes to the tree. He tries for about a quarter of an hour but nothing.
BK: "I don't think it's working," he gives up. "I can probably only heal people."
DH: "Says who? You should try again until it works."
BK: "Are you encouraging me to use my powers? That's new."
DH: "Just try again. I'm sure you can do it." Byeongkwan goes hold the branch again. "Try and think of what you did when you got hurt."
BK: "I just focused on the pain, I don't know how I did it." He tries for some time. "That's right! I had herbs to help me. I think I know what to do." He focuses really hard and is eventually able to mend the branch.
DH: "Told you it would work." The others have collected twigs to make a fire so they can make diner, as always. Donghun has taken out his little puff. As they're finishing the puff starts to float towards the fire.
DH: " Oh no, my puff!" He tries to grab but almost falls into the fire.
J: "Careful!" Jun catches him. Suddenly everyone is looking in shock.
CH: "Uhm...Jun...look behind you."
J: "What?" He notices how everyone is looking. So he looks behind him (while still holding Donghun). The fire behind him should've hit him too. But it's evading him. Just like Sehyoon could make the rain go around him, without touching him. The same happened to Jun with fire. Donghun steps back and Jun gets away from the fire. The fire goes back to it's normal form.
BK: "Jun! You have fire powers!" He says excitedly. Jun is speechless.
CH: "Come on! Try something."
J: "But what if I hurt myself?"
SY: "You saw what happened. It won't touch you, so you can't get hurt."
J: "Then what should I do?"
BK: "I don't know, just try something!" He goes to the fire and tries touch it. It evades him.
CH: "Try and grab it." Jun tries to grab it with his hand and closes it. He turns his hand around and opens it, revealing a small flame.
J: "Wha! It worked!" The rest of the evening he plays with the fire, almost like a little kid.
DH: "Well, this is boring." He's sitting apart from the others as you come sit next to him.
"Don't worry, I also don't have powers. You're not alone," you say as if you knew he felt left out, being the only one without powers.
DH: "What was it again? Shae Loya?"
"That's right. The oracle village."
DH: "So what? Will I get like some sort of oracle powers?"
"Maybe you'll have some sort forecast powers."
DH: "That actually doesn't sound so bad. I don't mind being able to see the future," he shrugs.
"You seem happier."
DH: "What do you mean?"
"When you first came here you weren't very...enthusiastic."
DH: "I guess that's true. You know...the older you get, the less you believe in magic and miracles. I'm not surprised these kids believed in this world right away. To be honest, I feel sorry for acting like that. It hurts my pride a little. But I want to apologize for my behaviour in the beginning. I probably didn't make a very good first impression."
"It's true that it wasn't the best," you shrug, "but I knew you'd get used to it."
DH: "How would you know? You didn't know me."
"Actually, I saw you guys coming."
DH: "What?"
"A few weeks before you came, I began to have dreams about you guys. I got to know you a little. The group mentality, and each member. It was kind of predictable that you wouldn't believe in this world at first. But it was clear as crystal that Sehyoon would believe in it the most. I had dreams about him the most. It might sound a little cheesy. But it seemed like it was destiny for Sehyoon to discover this world. I don't know how but I could see or feel when was the right moment for him to find the box. I'm probably wrong, but it felt as if I could evoke the box. As if I could demand when it would appear... I know, it probably sounds dumb."
DH: "Actually it doesn't. I can't explain why, but it kind of makes sense. As if you were the key to bringing us here."
"Something like that... Anyways, we should go to sleep. Thanks for listening."
DH: "Eung," he smiles. You get up and call the boys to go to sleep.

[A/n: Sorry once again for such a late upload. I know it's been ages, but I just couldn't get myself to upload earlier. I hope that this time I'll upload more often, so please look forward to that ^^]