Level Two - Whirlpool of Lies (Chapter One 2/3)
Title: Level Two - Whirlpool of Lies
Main Characters: Kyuhyun, Sungmin, Donghae
Pairings: Kyuhyun/Sungmin
Genre: Adventure, romance, action
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Violence, Swear words...
Summary: Kyuhyun’s survived Level One but that doesn’t mean the game has ended. Level Two is a world covered in water with lies at every corner, deceit in every turn and not a single person to trust. Without someone to watch his back, the Game may just be over for him.
[ Master List ]
A/N: Hi everyone... I died. I know. ><
I've just been so busy with school and this school performance we're doing. And my brain just hates me and decides to be a lazyass and not right. I'm so sorry! D: I'll try my best to get better, but I dunno. This month is going to be crazy. Wish me luck ^^;
Also, happy Easter :D
-----
Chapter One: The Unending Sea 2/3:
Sungmin face palmed just as Kyuhyun hit the water. He let out a long sigh and undid the strap around his waist and put his sword on the ground. “Hold on Kyu,” Sungmin called over the edge of the boat.
All of a sudden the boat slammed to a stop and Sungmin fell face forward, quickly sticking his arms out so he didn’t face plant. “Holy sh-”
“Get him out of there!” Donghae ran to the side of the boat, looking terrified.
Sungmin gave him a bizarre look, standing up from where he had fallen. “What-”
Donghae grabbed Sungmin by the front of the shirt and yanked him toward the side of the boat. “Sungmin , this is the Unending Sea. There are MONSTERS in these waters. Get him the hell out of there!”
Sungmin’s eyes widened in realization and he had jumped over the side of the boat before Donghae could say ‘hurry’.
Kyuhyun was not the most amazing swimmer the world had ever seen.
He could swim alright, meaning he wouldn’t drown, but he had never swam in an ocean before and so being thrown into one wasn’t a very pleasant experience. And to make it worse the rope was so heavy it was almost dragging him underwater.
He hit the water hard and winced at the ice cold water that went right through his clothes. Panicking, he swam blindly, not even sure if he was moving in the right direction upward or not. The force of the impact had sent all the air rushing out of his lungs and he was beginning to worry that he would drown.
If he died he was going to haunt Donghae forever.
Just as his head began to pound and his vision was swimming there was a loud splash next to him and the force of something pushing down on him. Kyuhyun fumbled but then someone was grabbing onto his arm pulling him upward.
Kyuhyun surfaced, coughing out salt water and trying not to drown again. “I am going to kill that damn pirate!” He declared as he pushed his bangs out of his eyes, flailing.
Sungmin wasn’t listening though as he had already grabbed onto Kyuhyun again and was practically dragging him toward the boat. “Climb, now,” Sungmin ordered, practically shoving Kyuhyun against the boat.
Kyuhyun wondered why Sungmin was freaking out but decided he’d rather not know. He grabbed onto the ladder that Donghae had thrown down and began climbing.
“What’s going on-”
“SUNGMIN!”
The only warning was Donghae’s yell when the ladder slammed against the boat and there was a large tug at the bottom of the ladder. Kyuhyun grabbed on, almost losing his balance and looked down.
Sungmin was hanging from one of the lower rungs of the ladder, his hand bleeding from breaking the upper rungs, and wrapped around his leg was a tentacle of some sort.
Before anyone could react there was a strong wind and Sungmin cut right through the tentacle. Black blood splattered across the side of the boat as the tentacle slithered back to the water. Sungmin then grabbed onto the piece still attached to his ankle and yanked. It ripped off with a sickening sound. Tossing it over the side he started climbing again, even quicker now.
“Climb, damm it!” Sungmin yelled when he noticed Kyuhyun wasn’t moving.
Sungmin was about to yell again when Kyuhyun stuck his arm through the ladder, pulled his bow from behind his back, and shot instinctively.
Sungmin pressed himself against the side of the boat as the arrow flew past his head and into the tentacle that had come out of the ocean. The tentacle sank back into the water.
That had not been a good idea.
Just as the tentacle disappeared under four more came up, coming straight for Sungmin. He turned around on the boat and made a sweeping motion with his hand.
Creating a blade with the air the four tentacles were sliced in half, a dark black inky blood squirting in the air. Pushing his hands forward the rest of the tentacles flew back toward the ocean.
“Kyuhyun, shoot it!” Sungmin shouted immediately from below. He reached his hand out and grabbed the air, then with a grunt lifted the monster out of the ocean and threw it into the air.
Kyuhyun grabbed onto the ladder again, yanking an arrow out of his quiver before knocking it and aiming. The arrow struck the middle of what looked like a huge octopus. The tentacles flailed for a moment before it fell down again and slammed against the water, disappearing under the surface.
Strong arms grabbed onto Kyuhyun and yanked him up and over the side of the boat. He sat up, soaked to the bone, panting, and watched as Donghae struggled to pull Sungmin up.
“What happened?” Kyuhyun shouted when Donghae dropped Sungmin onto the ground. He was breathing heavily, sweating through his clothes and shaking slightly.
“It’s the monster. Its tentacles had poisonous spikes.” Donghae said as he straightened out Sungmin on the floor and yanked his pant leg up.
Where the tentacle had wrapped around Sungmin’s ankle there were deep incisions from what seemed like spikes, the skin was an angry reddish purple color and it was bleeding dark red.
“Shit,” Donghae cursed as he struggled to pull something from his belt.
“I-I have a potion,” Kyuhyun stuttered, his eyes unable to tear away from Sungmin’s shaking form. He reached out to grab Sungmin’s hand and even though Sungmin’s pupils were dilating and he didn’t seem to notice Kyuhyun was even there, he held on tight.
“Won’t work,” Donghae said as he finally pulled a bag from his belt and uncapped it. “Potions don’t take out poisons.”
Donghae placed his hand on top of the bag before lifting it, a section of water floating from the bag to rest in midair over his hand. He then slowly carried the water to Sungmin’s ankle where he let it seep into his skin.
Sungmin’s back arched as Donghae began moving the water inside of his ankle, capturing all the poison and cleansing his blood. His nails dug into Kyuhyun’s skin, his mouth open in a silent scream. Kyuhyun had to hold him down as Donghae placed his hands on Sungmin’s ankle and lifted the water, now a deep black, out of his body.
Just as the last of the water left Sungmin collapsed to the ground, panting, his eyes closed. His ankle was now a normal red color and the wound looked a lot healthier. With a sigh of relief Kyuhyun uncorked his light blue potion and poured a few drops onto the wound. The wound sizzled with smoke rising from the cuts before they began to disappear altogether.
“You can bring him inside now,” Donghae said without looking up. Floating in front of him was the black water which healed Sungmin. Donghae was already slowly moving his hands apart, trying to separate the poison from the water. Already the edges of the water were turning clear again.
Kyuhyun frowned, slightly annoyed by Donghae’s insensitiveness before picking up Sungmin’s unconscious body gently and carrying him toward the cabin.
He paused at the edge of the stairs, faltering just for a moment. Something was wrong.
Taking care to separate the last of the poison from the water Donghae had just finished when Kyuhyun came back up the stairs thirty minutes later. He held his hand up for silence as he finished, taking the last of the black water and slipping it into a small vial which was then placed in a bag attached to his belt. “Done,” he said happily as he stored the now clear liquid back into its pouch.
After capping it Donghae turned to Kyuhyun with a slightly irritated look. “Yes?”
Kyuhyun held up a bowl of ramen. “Truce?” He asked, smiling.
Donghae was touched, even though the ramen was a bit watery. He fixed the problem though by separating some of the water and afterward it tasted a lot better. Because he was in a good mood he even fixed Kyuhyun’s bowl too.
“So hyung,” Kyuhyun asked as they were slurping the ramen and sitting on the side of the boat. “Do you mind telling me about the elements? I don’t really understand a lot about the game.”
“Sungmin hasn’t filled you in?” Kyuhyun shook his head. Donghae shrugged. “I guess it can’t be helped. Okay then, let’s start from the beginning. Listen closely.” Kyuhyun rolled his eyes and Donghae chuckled. “Anyway, there are four primary elements, air, water, earth and fire. All players are given elements randomly at the beginning of the game, though their personalities and talents play a huge part in the selection.
“Children of Air are usually quick and cause little damage but at quick intervals. They’re better at long distance because they can usually control the air and change the direction of their weapons, but close up they’re also strong because they can get close without getting hit. They can play offense or defense and have advantages and weaknesses over all the elements.
“Children of Water are also offense and defense players, but can also be healers. They’re very strong if they have lots of water near them and although any water can be used, Clear Water is the best for healing.” Donghae showed Kyuhyun the pouch that he had. Inside held Clear Water, or non tainted water that advanced Donghae’s healing powers. “They have an advantage over Fire but a weakness against Earth.
“The Children of Earth are the best defense players, because they can control the earth and rocks are damn hard to break through. They have a strong sense of protection and happen to be very loyal. I’m not saying that they suck at offense, because they don’t. Chucking rocks at people is just as useful. They’re weak against fire but strong against water.
“And the last is Children of Fire. They’re the offense players because they can create fire from their own bodies.” Kyuhyun thought of the fire player from before who had burned himself up to set the forest on fire. “Basically they can burn anything but they have a weakness against water.”
Kyuhyun nodded, interested. He now knew instead of using raw power with his element he had to strategize.
“Then there is a secondary element that only a few people have. It is Light,” Donghae said. Kyuhyun nodded and Donghae seemed surprised. “You’ve heard of the Children of Light?”
Kyuhyun was about to respond that he’s met one but quickly decided it was better not to mention. “Sungmin told me about them,” he replied.
Donghae nodded. “They’re very famous but there are only four at a time. Light is a completely defensive element because it can only be used for healing. Angels, as they’re called, can heal others and also themselves. When they are in their ‘Angel’ state they are usually glowing a white light, have wings and their eyes turn silver. The glow gives off healing powers, their wings help them channel energy and when their eyes are silver they can see inside the human body.”
Kyuhyun remembered fleetingly waking up to Leeteuk hovering over him with wings and staring down at him with silver eyes. He shoved away the guilt that was sneaking its way back into his heart.
Donghae didn’t seem to notice. “Their power can be stolen away by others if they’re killed, but if they’re killed by a monster or of an accident their power is transferred to someone who has just entered the Game.”
“How much do you know about the Levels?” Kyuhyun asked curiously.
“Of course, I’ve already passed Level One,” Donghae said. “And you know how it looks. Most of the animals can fly and the City of Air is in the treetops because their people love heights and the fresh air. In Level Two it’s mostly ocean. In these waters there are monsters, like the octopus you saw before. It had poisonous spikes on its tentacles. Most of the monsters in Level two have something poisonous so it’s better to fight from a distance.
“Pirates often sail these waters and raid other ships, but because ours is so big it shouldn’t be a problem.” Kyuhyun nodded at this. “Where we’re going is the City of Water.”
“You know where it is?” Kyuhyun said, surprised.
“Of course,” Donghae said, grinning as he pulled something from his belt. It was a piece of parchment rolled and tied with a ribbon. “I got a map back at the island.” When Kyuhyun reached to grab it Donghae easily dodged and put it back on his belt. “For my eye’s only.”
When Kyuhyun scowled Donghae grinned and pat him on his head. “Let me tell you about some of the ‘jobs’ that we’re given.” He said and Kyuhyun sat back to listen. “As you know, Sungmin’s a ninja, or assassin as others would call him. He didn’t choose it, I guess you could say it chose him? In this game everyone gets a sort of job which helps them choose weapons and fighting styles. Sungmin uses a katana, right? That’s because as an assassin he’s very quick and quiet. He’s better at offense than defense and is used to close combat.
“Now you Kyuhyun, you’re an archer,” Donghae said wisely. “You have a balance between offense and defense because you can fight from a far distance while still having very strong attacks. By using the wind you can change the direction of your arrows and also speed them up. I suggest learning some close combat attacks from Sungmin though, because unless you have someone to keep the opponent distracted from a close distance you can be taken out if the opponent comes too close.”
“I can learn that air blade stuff?” Kyuhyun asked.
“Of course,” Donghae said, rolling his eyes as if it was obvious. “That’s very simple air moves that every Child of Air can use. It takes practice to perfect it but it’s simple stuff. Now about the flying thing though… Now that is special.”
Kyuhyun blinked. He didn’t really feel special, but he went along with it.
“Most Children of Air can use air currents to stay aloft or stay suspended for longer period of times but not many know how to actually fly. It’s like the difference between a flying squirrel and a bird. Most can only fall slowly,” Donghae said, smiling because he was proud of himself. “If you can figure out how you flew it can be very useful in fighting because almost no one could reach you.
Now for me, I’m a Child of Water, and more specifically a pirate. I use a cutlass, which is a short sword,” he showed it to Kyuhyun. “I can use it for close combat and then use my water powers for mid to far range attacks. I’m one of the Children of Water that can freeze it to ice.” A small puddle on the deck of the boat slowly began to freeze over until it was solid ice. “Ice is usually used for defense because it can be frozen quickly.”
Donghae then pointed to the bag at his belt again. “I’m also a healer. Every Child of Water can heal but most aren’t smart enough to use Clear Water. It can take out any poison and heals quicker than normal water and its reusable.”
Kyuhyun nodded again. He remembered from earlier.
“There are simpler jobs like ours such as warriors and bandits, but there are those that are more complex,” Donghae said. “They are the magic users.”
“Magic?” Kyuhyun asked, surprised. He didn’t know this game had magic.
“Yup. In the first level you must’ve seen a Magic Master, right?”
Kyuhyun remembered in the Land of Beginnings that there had been a hut with a man standing outside over a cauldron. “Like a witch or a wizard?”
“If I remember the Magic Master in the Land of Beginnings is a wizard. His name is Key. You’ll see him in the City of Water.” Donghae then decided to explain. “Because they were created by the Game Creators they’re computerized and can be in different places at once. I’ll show him to you next time.”
Donghae then continued his lesson. “Now magic users usually use their elements while at the same time using charms or potions or magic weapons. The most common are mages, who usually use weapons that have magic inside them, though I’ve heard of healers who use magic because their elements won’t heal, and then there are those can connect with their elements while harnessing magic and summon monsters to work at their will.”
Kyuhyun nodded. The whole thing sounded like a video game to him. Well, he technically guessed this place was one. He stood up for he had heard everything he needed to hear. “Thanks Donghae, I think I’m going to head in now. It’s getting pretty late,” he said, noticing that the two suns had already disappeared and had given way to the darkness of the night.
“Alright Kyuhyun, I’m going to stay up here a little bit,” Donghae said, staring out into the distance.
He was quietly humming to himself, deep in thought when he heard footsteps coming up the stairs again.
“Donghae?”
“I thought you were going to bed,” Donghae said, turning around.
Ice cold water splashed right into Donghae’s face as he turned around, drenching him. Immediately he was off his feet, grabbing Kyuhyun by the neck and slamming him hard against the side of the mast. Already he had a knife held to Kyuhyun’s throat. He used his free hand to wipe water out of his eyes, scowling. “What the hell was that for,” he snapped, emphasizing the swear word. He was obviously quite pissed.
A smirk passed across Kyuhyun’s face. “Pretty fast, weren’t you?” He asked, noticing Donghae’s quick retaliation.
A look of confusion spread on Donghae’s face. “What are you talking about?”
“And you even had time to pull the knife too,” Kyuhyun said, a knowing look on his face. “Children of Water are offense and defense players and are best when they’re near lots of water.” He motioned to around them. “And look here, we’re surrounded by it.”
Donghae still looked confused. “What the hell are you saying?”
“I’m saying why, would a strong Child of Water need protection when he can obviously protect himself just fine?” Kyuhyun said, smirking. “I’ve looked around downstairs, Donghae. Each of the bedrooms seems to have been used, but there’s only one of you, so how could you have used all the space? Why would one pirate need such a big boat for only himself?”
Donghae stiffened, narrowing his eyes. It was obvious. He had been caught.
Kyuhyun smirked, continuing. “And then the one thing that proved my suspicions.” He pointed to the piece of paper attached to Donghae’s belt. “The map. Why would a pirate who has a boat, power and an obvious advantage in his own turf need protection when he knows exactly where he’s going?”
Kyuhyun leaned forward, not even afraid of the knife as he brought their faces close together. “Because he’s hiding something.”