Briar Rose - Taekook

Chapter 23

The internet is really slow right now...anyway, update!

XXIII: Jungkook

The moment my hands make contact with Taehyung's temples, I'm swept away in a tide of color and light. I seem to be falling through an endless vacuum, with time and space bending underneath me. A blinding light sears through my vision, and my eyes feel like they're on fire.

Suddenly, my surrounding change, the burning light sheared away as if by a scythe. I'm standing in the middle of a sand training field, lit only by blue-fire lamps at the edges. It's the middle of the night, and moonlight glimmers off the columns and arches of a building behind me. When I look behind, my breath catches in my throat.

It's a massive black tower, made of the same granite as the lampholders. But there's something ominous about it, and the surrounding night blends into the stone so well, that I have to strain my eyes to see where the sky ended and the building began. None of the lights in the windows are lit, and that makes me wonder if I'm the only person here. I shuffle my feet on the sand, wondering what to do next.

Then I see the crest.

On a wooden board a few feet away, was the sign of a snake coiled around a sword dripping with blood. I look away quickly, disturbed by the image. This building evidently had an emblem. And there were training fields all around, with things in the distance that look suspiciously like barracks.

Which means that this was a school.

A school which Taehyung had attended.

Bloodcrest.

The night air seems to curdle around me, cooling considerably even though nothing around me has changed. I'm suddenly aware of all the weaponry hanging on hooks at the end of the field, and the daggers in the middle of targets. This was no doubt a military academy.

Out of the ghostly quietness, I hear a loud yell, shattering my sense of loneliness. There was someone else here, that was for certain. I didn't know if that was good or bad. Taehyung had told me that Bloodcrest's students were merciless and incredible fighters. I didn't want to encounter one of them with nothing to defend myself. Scratch that. I never wanted to meet one even if I had a formidable weapon. The noise seems to be coming from a large wood building right in front of me, lit by fiery red lamps.

Are you going in? The logical part of me asks. I wouldn't. Might be dangerous. But then again, this was only part of Taehyung's memory. In reality, I was still in the healing center at Armad Castle. Nothing could possibly hurt me here. Steeling my nerves, I walk towards the towering edifice.

When I enter the building, I'm greeted by the sound of swords clashing together, and shouts coming from a training room. Ahead of me, the training room door stands open, and gold torchlight pours into the hallway. I take a tentative peek, ready to bolt at the first sign of danger. A pair of vampires battle within, each brandishing two slender scims. They both have silver masks on, glinting in the fire of the torches. They must both be Masks. One of them turns, and I gasp.

His mask has completely melded onto his face, so that the smooth liquid silver dissolved into his skin. He now couldn't remove it without taking off half his face with it. All his features are clearly visible underneath, from the thick slant of his eyebrows to the hard angles of his cheekbones. The jade-green of his eyes seem to pierce through his opponent as the two circle each other like hungry lions.

The other man is about the same height, but more slender and lithe. His mask still has yet to mold into his face, and so sits atop like a thing apart. A black training tunic covers his body from the neck down, and ruby red eyes flash from behind his silver mask. Without a doubt, I know who it is.