The World Is Bigger Than You Think: Kon
Title: The World Is Bigger Than You Think: Kon
Pairing: Kyusung
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I'm from Ohio...not too many hot korean idols to own or make money of off. So do you think I'm doing that with these boys?...didn't think so
Summary: Jongwoon is a traveler, but not an ordinary traveler. To keep himself busy, he begins to write about all the places he visits and the people he meets, including one unwanted traveling companion.
~
It's been roughly three months since I left my home world and in that time I have been through so many worlds and so many different ways of life. I could figure out the exact amount of worlds I have been to but I really don't feel like doing the math, no matter how basic it truly is. Though even if it's been three months to me, that doesn't mean that each world's time move at the same pace. For all I know, it could have been only a week on my original world.
But enough of that. I'm not starting this journal as a discussion of the theories between different worlds but rather as a way to keep track of the places I go to and to share my trip to whoever may listen when I finely find someplace that fits me.
This time I find myself in a desolate city, one in which even after a day here I have yet to learn the name of. The people here live such poor lives and their city is practically in ruins. It is a surprise that they manage to live here. But as I have been told, they have no other choice. The ruler of this country or at least this city, refuses to allow them to leave. There is still much to learn about this place and I am lucky enough that a young woman by the name of Isa has welcomed me into her home and allowed me to stay.
Isa, it's such an interesting name, it holds some similarities to names you would find on my home world but still somehow very different. I have asked her what it means but she does not know the meaning. In my world everyone knew the meaning of their name as it held a meaning to you as a person. But I guess they don't have the same ideals here.
~ Jongwoon (Which literally means Cloud Luck. Though to be honest I have never figured out what that means for me as a person. But I was often told that it was a good name.)
"Jongwoon? Are you awake?" A soft knock and voice pulled Jongwoon from the thoughts of his journal. He quietly closed his book and set in the drawer next to a light blue orb that was getting darker at the base.
"Yes, Isa. I woke up not too long ago and since I did not know if you were awake, I thought it was best not to disturb you." Jongwoon said politely after he opened the door. The girl's petite frame and pale skin were a heavy contrast to the baggy, dark gray dress her government provided for her. With her long brown hair pulled back into a messy braid, it was easy for Jongwoon to see that she had already been working for a couple hours that morning.
"Oh it would be no problem, I wake up at dawn to start working most mornings. I have breakfast downstairs if you would like some." She offered.
"I told you, you did not need to provide food for me, the room is plenty already." He could tell that his words upset her though she tried to hide it, but her bright green eyes that intrigued Jongwoon so much gave it away. No one from his home country had eyes of any color than black, brown, or the occasional gray, so it was a rare sight to see for him.
"Well as my guest, I insist that you eat at least one meal a day with me. Is that too much to ask for? I would feel like a bad host if I didn't. And it's not often that I get to play host." Isa stated though she said the last line much quieter and from the looks of the town it wasn't hard to see why but he would explore that more later. Reluctantly he agreed to breakfast, which Isa had laid out carefully on her small, broken table. The chair looked somewhat unsafe to sit in, but surprisingly didn't break under him the entire time he sat there. To pay back for breakfast, Jongwoon insisted on doing the dishes for her. He was lucky enough to have a place to sleep, he did not want to take advantage of her kindness in any way. "I need to get back to work. Feel free to look around town but be back as soon as the sun sets. The patrol comes through as soon as darkness falls and anyone outside will be in trouble. Even more so if it's an outsider."
"I will be careful," was all Jongwoon could say before Isa left, rushing back to her job. He wasn't sure what exactly it was, but he assumed it had to be something outdoors since she had been covered in mud this morning as she had been yesterday when she offered him a place to stay.
Walking back outside, Jongwoon could really see how bad the place was. The streets were practically all mud, to the point where you could barely call them streets anymore. The buildings all around were cracked and close to falling apart, any major shake or disturbance could easily bring them down. He was amazed that they were still standing at all. He hadn't been able to question why the place was such a wreck yet, and with no one else in the streets, his questions would have to wait.
As he walked around the small town, the surroundings were mostly forests, but near the entrance their was a large gated wall, which is what he suspects keep the townsmen living in such a poor place. And on the opposing end were the fields where most of the townsmen were currently work. Though Jongwoon could see in the distance that the street slowly became more like one the further it went. Looking to where the road led there was yet another wall that Jongwoon could not see past. Luckily there was an elderly man in the field next to him that Jongwoon could ask.
"Excuse me, sir?" Jongwoon called and got the man's attention. "I was wondering, what is that up there? That wall?"
"That is Kon." (pronounced like "Cone") The man was obviously taken back by Jongwoon's lack of knowledge but continued to explain. "That is where anyone with power or money lives. They built the wall so they did not have to view all of us here and could live their life in ignorance. I assume there are some younger folks there who do not even know that we exist out here. One is only permitted into Kon with a pass."
"Basically like slaves?" The man nodded.
"Though those lucky enough to work in Kon are given baths and a work uniform upon entrance, so no one on the inside sees how bad it is out here."
"Why don't you leave then? Find somewhere else to start anew?"
"We cannot. Like you said before it's like slaves. We are all slaves down here, the wall on the other side of town is to keep us in here and none of us dare venture into the forests. A patrol keeps any creatures from getting into town from the forest, but most of the patrol are there to keep it from reaching Kon. If a creature rages through our town, they don't care as long as Kon is untouched."
"Surely they would not allow you to die. As workers who provide the food for Kon and work for them, they would not want to see you die."
"We are expendable to them. If we die, they can simply find someone from another area they own to take our places. And every once in a while, someone from Kon is expelled for losing money or power. Or once even for disrespecting the Governor who rules over the land and Kon. I'm sorry I can't answer more questions but I must get back to work." The elderly man politely dismissed Jongwoon, though he didn't mind as the man had answered many of his questions. Tomorrow he would be leaving for another place which means he only had until sunset to figure everything out and maybe help these people. But first he wanted a closer look at Kon.
Carefully he treaded down the muddy path, relieved when it became a more solid road and he no longer had to force his foot out of the mud each step he took. As expected from the elderly man's words, there were guards posted right outside the wall at a very secure looking gate that seemed to have many layers to it. The guards were quick to spot him and take a defensive pose and Jongwoon assumed it was his clothes that made them apprehensive. Jongwoon would not expect them to take such a defensive stance against someone from the town.
"State your business, stranger." One guard asked, obviously being a higher level guard since his armor was slightly different from the rest and he wore a red sash across his torso.
"I am a traveler just wishing to see the sights of the world."
"Where are you from? Your clothes are not like any we have seen before." The guard spoke again, not lowering his defenses.
"Very far. Much outside this country. I have been traveling for three months already and seen many of places. And I have heard of Kon and thought that it would be a sight to see during my journey." This was not the first time that Jongwoon had been heavily questioned before he was allowed entry to a town and he knew well not to be intimidated by the guards. If one answered curtly and in a way that would not seem harmful, then he would be allowed in.
"Very well traveler. You may enter. But know this, in Kon, one who has been outside these walls must not speak of what lies behind them to those who live inside. Kon is a paradise and we will not allow anything to ruin it."
"Understood. I will not stay long. Just enough to see some sights, maybe eat some food and then I shall be on my way again." The guard walked Jongwoon through the gate and pointed out some sights that he might want to see and reminded him once again of their law. Once alone, Jongwoon took a moment to get over the shock of just how different the two sides of the wall were. The outside was falling apart, while here the buildings were all standing tall. all in vibrant colors, and not a thing was out of place. The road was in pristine condition and adults and children alike were out in the streets, walking around, talking, playing games. It was such a contrast to the dark, decrepit, and dull town outside.
Jongwoon continued walking around the town, inspecting it carefully. Everything was so pristine and tidy, not a speck of dirt out of place or an untrimmed plant. It was almost scary how perfect everything seemed. He had seen a couple of workers who looked like they obviously came from the outside, if their clothes were anything to go by. But they seemed to be the only ones really working. The only workers seemed to be slaves from the outside town unless you count their overseers as workers.
Deciding that it was getting late enough to eat, Jongwoon stopped in the town's main square, completely with water fountain and all in the center, to sit down and eat a snack he had in his bag. Although there were many people in the square no one seemed to pay attention to him, even though he was obviously a foreigner. Sticking to just his favorite hobby of people watching while eating, Jongwoon paid very little mind to their conversations. However, a couple of girls near him were having a conversation that caught his interest.
"So did you hear about Tara?" Since there was no verbal response, Jongwoon could only assume the other person shook their head based on the next statement. "She was talking about wanting to vacation on the outside?"
"What? Really? Did she manage to get travel permits? I can only imagine what it's like. Sunshine, open fields of grass and forests, and maybe a lake or a river. Wouldn't it be great?"
"I don't know if she has the permits yet, but just imagine spending the week on break, sitting by a beach or having a picnic in a grassy field. It's like a dream."
"Those who live outside must have it so good. It's nice here but it gets a little boring just seeing that wall and the wind is probably better out there too." Jongwoon scoffed silently at the girls' conversation as it was far from the truth. The only thing they managed to get correct, was that yes, the wind was better outside these walls. But the outside still had walls of its own. They were trapped the same as everyone in Kon was, just that Kon had acceptable living standards.
But the one thing that struck Jongwoon the most about their conversation was just how much they didn't know. It was like the elderly man had said, they were ignorant of what the outside looked like. They were not aware of how the people were living and being treated and that those who lived in Kon, although feeling trapped, were in much better shape. It's almost funny for these girls to say they envied those on the outside, Jongwoon doubted they would if they knew the reality of it.
Before Jongwoon could go back to listening in on the girls' conversation, there was a loud noise nearby that sounded almost like someone being thrown into a wooden door. Jongwoon has had experience with that in the past, so he knows exactly what it sounds like. Jongwoon carefully decided to investigate the noise especially as the shouts were becoming louder and more violent. Luckily Jongwoon stayed far enough to the side as he neared the small street the noise was coming from, that as they charged out of the street, he was not run into himself. The group of soldiers were chasing a boy probably a tiny bit younger than Jongwoon himself and a slave by the looks of his clothing.
Entering into the town square, many of the people who had been enjoying the early afternoon sun had backed out of the way of the fight, yet stayed where they could watch. The boy had tripped once in the town square allowing the guards to surround him. The boy was not about to back down as he jumped right back up into a fighting stance ready to take on any guard who dared to step forward. One after another the guards attacked the boy but he pushed each one off with much skill, often knocking them into each other to keep the other guards off him for a moment. Although he was going unarmed against guards readily equipped with swords, the boy seemed to have the upper hand.
Jongwoon watched carefully even more intrigued by the boy as Jongwoon could see that he was quite injured. He assumes that the boy was the one to be thrown into the door as it was obvious to Jongwoon that the boy would flinch when he moved his back in a certain direction indicating the severe pain it was in. He also saw that the boy was stepping very delicately on his right foot, keeping most of his weight on the left. It was also the same foot that managed to trip him as he ran into the square meaning that he must have injured his ankle at some point whether when he tripped or before Jongwoon does not know. Looking up again at the boy's fighting style, he was welled trained, even more so when he managed to hit a guard right in the wrist as the guard's sword came down, easily knocking it out of his hand and taking it for himself. Only a highly trained fighter would be able to pull off that move. And now that the boy was armed, Jongwoon was waiting for this to get really interesting. But what came next was probably the biggest shock, the boy spoke as he forced the guards to maintain a distance from him.
"Cyrus, you lie to all these people and try to kill anyone that speaks up!" The boy pointed his sword at a very well dressed man, clothes much more ornate than anyone else he had seen so far, who stood proudly at the entrance to the street the boy had been chased from. Jongwoon could see the man was angry even though he tried to keep a stoic appearance. "You lead them to believe that the outside is just as perfect as the inside is and yet you trap them all here so that your cruelty will not be shown. That no one can see that outside these walls might as well be a wasteland. It's unlivable and yet you force so many to spend their lives wasting away out there while you live in your big house with someone to take care of your every need."
"You forget Kyuhyun, until your parents died, you lived here just as I do." The man, Cyrus said, not being intimidated or at least not showing it.
"Yeah until you forced me out there. Out there to see the harsh reality that you try so hard to hide. You're a coward, you know that if the people of Kon saw how you treated the people out there, that they would overthrow you. You would lose your power as governor. So to protect it, you keep everyone from Kon trapped inside and keep everyone else out who don't have a pass and threaten death if they so much as utter a word about the outside."
"Life in Kon is a paradise, there is no reason for anyone to want to leave it for the unpredictable world outside. And we just don't want anyone to enter who might cause trouble, that is all." Lies, they were easy to spot and as the governor Jongwoon figured he had lots of practice telling them so he could keep crowds under control and on his side.
"Bullshit! And you know it. And I bet that my parents' death was on your hands as well."
"And why would you think I had a part of that? It was a simple house fire. Besides why would I wish to kill your parents?" Jongwoon was pissed by this point, not as much as the boy was but still very angry. The governor's smirk and posture gave him away to anyone he knew what to look for from people like him. That man had killed the boy's family and was the reason for Isa and her townsmen to be in such a horrid place. It was sickening.
"My father knew what the outside was. He knew what you did to those people and how you treat them and force them to live. You knew he wanted to take you down, so you killed him for it and played it off as an accident."
"Kyuhyun, I tire of this useless bickering. You have broken the law. You assaulted me and my guards as well as spoken lies of the outside."
"They're not lies! You have forced me to live in them."
"While I admit they are not as luxurious as our homes here are, it is just the fall from you wealth that has you believing it worse than it is. Guards he should be sentenced to death, you may carry out the sentence." Cyrus began to walk away, not wishing to witness the boy's death first hand and not bothering to pay attention to any of the gasps that were heard all around the town square. Jongwoon had enough by this point and was not allow the man to go any further and stepped in his way.
"Stop. You wouldn't want to tarnish your image and make all these witnesses question the boy's words after you try to cover them up, would you? You have already spoken against his so called lies, so do you want to have to explain why you killed a boy in the middle of the day in the middle of the town? I don't think it would look very good if a boy was brutally killed by the governor's orders in a place that is considered paradise." Jongwoon carefully spoke, trying not to let his anger out to much or say something that would get himself sentenced to death as well. The governor thought carefully over his words and was clearly annoyed.
"Fine, he may live but get him out of my town." He shouted back to the guards. "As for you, I would suggest you leave quickly as well lest you do something to cause problems." He said to Jongwoon who just kept his stern look on the man but allowed him to pass saying nothing in return. Jongwoon watched as Kyuhyun was beaten down and had the sword taken from his when he was too busy paying attention to Jongwoon and Cyrus and not on the guards. Looking back around, the townsmen gathered in the square began to gossip again, but all seemed relieved that the boy was not going to be killed.
Jongwoon decided he had enough of Kon and it's supposed paradise likeness and followed the guards with Kyuhyun back outside. The guards tossed Kyuhyun rather roughly back onto the road to the town once they were outside the gate and immediately pointed swords at him again as he jumped back up into a fighting position. However Kyuhyun relaxed as Jongwoon pushed the guards out of his way rather harshly, even causing one to loose his balance and land in the dirt, glaring at them as he walked past.
"You alright kid?"
"You didn't need to step in, I had it handled."
"Because that's exactly what I would call being surrounded by guards and sentenced to death." Jongwoon rolled his eyes and pulled Kyuhyun to walk with him back to the town.
"What does it matter anyways? Being dead would be better then my position now. Stripped of everything I had and now powerless to fight against that bastard."
"Death should never be an option, not for anyone. Now lets get you somewhere and treat those wounds." Jongwoon lead Kyuhyun back to Isa's home and forced him to sit down in the kitchen and wait so Jongwoon could grab the first aid kit he traveled with.
"You really don't need to help me?"
"Oh yeah because from what I see of you, I totally trust that you will take care of your own injuries. Your lower back is heavily bruised, your ankle is swollen, a black eye, various sword wounds and other bruises. At this point you should be lucky you don't have any broken bones." Jongwoon said annoyed as he finished securing Kyuhyun's ankle.
"Jongwoon, are you here?"
"In the kitchen Isa." Jongwoon answered deeming Kyuhyun fully bandaged up.
"What happened?" She asked the moment she saw Kyuhyun sitting there covered in bandages.
"I went into Kon today and Kyuhyun here decided to make a scene and get himself beaten up by the guards and even sentenced to death. Though I managed to stop that last part."
"He was sentenced to death? Wait you went into Kon? How?"
"As a traveler they gave me permission to enter Kon." Jongwoon explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Isa decided to leave it alone and turn her attention back to the matter with Kyuhyun.
"What did you do?"
"I was just stating the truth, the same truth my father was trying to expose before he was killed for it."
"Kyuhyun I know you're new here but we're just trying to live. Trying to expose the truth would get us all killed. But as horrible as this life is, it's still our life and we're not just going to throw it away. You weren't meant to be here and live this life with us, but you could at least not make it worse for us while you are here."
"Why don't you want to fight? Why don't you want to help yourselves?" Kyuhyun argued back, not understand how the townsfolk could stand to live where they aren't even treated like human beings.
"Because we learned a long time ago that our lives are worth more than the fight is. Even if we were to fight, we can't guarantee that any thing would actually change."
"You can never guarantee that any thing will change but that doesn't make the fight not worth it. Just to make the people of Kon realize how everyone here is treated is something. To get it in their heads that Cyrus is an evil ass is something."
"And you think throwing away your life will accomplish that? Kyuhyun, it's not that we don't want to fight, it's just that we don't want to make things even worse for ourselves. Fighting could go in many different ways and leave us with some very different results many of which are probably worse then our current situation. When you put the chances of us making it better for everyone against then chances of it being worse, then it's just not worth the effort and loss of life." Isa explained in another way hoping that Kyuhyun would finally understand. Her voice took on a much softer tone, almost as if she were talking to child, though if Kyuhyun was as old as Jongwoon assumed then to Isa it might as well be like talking to a child. Isa was a couple of years older than Jongwoon, he knows because when she asked him how old he was she gave her own as well. So the age difference between her and Kyuhyun could be close to ten years though Jongwoon couldn't be certain about that.
"But you can't know until you try at least." Kyuhyun said as a final thought, knowing that he was beaten but still wanting to try one last thing.
"If we find a way to fight without putting our lives directly in front of their swords then we might actually fight back, but until then we shall go on as we have. Now it's getting late and the sun will be setting very soon so Kyuhyun you're staying the night."
"The sun sets a little earlier here then I expected." Jongwoon noticed, looking outside at the sun as it began to set.
"Yeah it does around this time of year, though it will set even earlier next month before the days lengthen again."
"Interesting. In my home we had very little change to when the sun was to set. Though that may have been because of the elders' abilities."
"Your elders' had the ability to change the setting of the sun?" Kyuhyun asked, rather surprised as he jumped back into the conversation.
"I can't say for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did. The elders were the strongest and most knowledgeable in the country. But there are a lot of differences between here and there.
"Your home seems rather far away and right now, far away sounds nice."
"It's been about three months since I left but I still don't think it's far enough yet."
"So you're running away."
"I wouldn't say running away, just no reason to stay."
"Well lets not talk about anything depressing while we eat." Isa suggested as she noticed the distant and almost sad look from Jongwoon as he talked about his home.
"I told you Isa, you don't have to cook for me."
"And I thought I told you that I do what I want and what I want is to make dinner for everyone. If you want to help in some way, then if you have some fruit then you can cut some up and share." Jongwoon thought for a moment and agreed when he remember some fruit that he picked up at the last world he was in. He carefully cut it up for them to eat with the dinner that Isa made, though was a little worried since he had only a little explanation of it and wasn't sure if he was preparing it correctly. But thankfully both Isa and Kyuhyun liked it and were not feeling sick at all that night.
Since the sun had set by the time the three had finished eating, there was no way they could go outside, so they spent the evening just talking in Isa's living room. Isa explained the reasoning further as when the separation was first created, many of the townsmen who were not permitted into Kon tried to break in after sunset or tried to leave the outer walls. She explained that secret meetings had also been taking place under the veil of darkness. So in response to it, the governor of the time, Cyrus's distant relative, Isa and Kyuhyun are not sure exactly how long his family has been governing, set up a patrol to discourage any of these activities. Anyone found out after darkness would be taken to a jail of sorts and basically tortured for a couple days and if they survived they were released back to the town without any medical treatment. The only ones allowed out were those who had a statement from their employer in Kon and that they were returning home from being worked late. The horror stories of those who survived long enough to make it back were enough to scare off any attempt to rebel.
"Jongwoon, can I talk to you for a second?" Isa asked a little later that night once she had sent Kyuhyun to bed, which was on the floor of Jongwoon's room since she had no where else to put him.
"Of course." Jongwoon followed her into the kitchen where if Kyuhyun woke up, hopefully he would not hear them talking.
"I think you should leave as soon as the sun rises in the morning. I can't trust that the governor won't try anything to get back at you for stopping him."
"I told you when I arrived that I would only be here for two nights and three days. As soon as I can leave, I will."
"What do you mean by as soon as you can?" Isa asked puzzled, not knowing what may be stopping him aside from possibly the guards.
"My mode of transportation takes time to recharge so to speak. I can't really fully explain it to you, but if you want I can show when I leave."
"Alright if that's the only form of explanation I can get, I'll take it. Though I have one request?"
"What would that be?"
"Take Kyuhyun with you."
"What?" To say Jongwoon was surprised would be an understatement though he hid his shock behind his usual calm and stoic expression.
"I don't trust for him to not be killed here especially after you leave. Cyrus is not a forgiving man and from what Kyuhyun has told me before, Cyrus's family has had a long standing hatred of Kyuhyun's. Cyrus is just the first to take action against the family that was this severe. Just take him somewhere where he can start a new life. He can't do that here and he will keep trying to fight Cyrus until he really is dead."
"I'm not looking for someone to travel with me. I've always been better on my own."
"You don't have to keep him with you, just get him out of here and then he can go his own separate way." Isa begged, he understood her reason but wasn't sure if he could actually allow himself to take someone else along with him even for just a short while. "Think about it before you leave, please." She tried one last time before she headed to bed herself. Silently Jongwoon crawled into the bed Isa gave him to use when he first arrived so he wouldn't wake up Kyuhyun. There was too much on Jongwoon's mind to actually fall asleep so instead he just looked over at the sleeping boy in the floor. He was obviously in pain from all his injuries, he couldn't hide it while he was sleeping like he did earlier. Jongwoon wondered if he could actually stand to have someone with him for even a little while but the idea made him nervous. He has never had anyone actually stick around with him since he left his home world and always thought it better to be alone. Jongwoon has always been better alone, even since he was a child it has been that way.
Jongwoon was pulled away from his thoughts when he heard noises outside. There was no way that it was the townsmen so the only answer was that it was guards. Now the only question was were they going after something from the forest or where they after Kyuhyun and possibly himself. His question was answered when he heard them grouping together at Isa's front door. Kyuhyun was slowly waking up to the noise and apparently so was Isa as they heard her run to the front door to see what was going on. Shortly afterwards there was shouting going on and both he and Kyuhyun were up and ready for anything that might happen.
"It's the middle of the night, why are you in my home?" The heard Isa shout at the guards.
"We hear you are harboring a couple of fugitives." Cyrus, they both would recognize his voice anywhere after the incident this afternoon. But now it was obvious that the death sentence was not removed for very long and that it has at least extended to Jongwoon if not possibly Isa.
"I am not harboring any fugitives."
"So you do not have your relatively new townsman Kyuhyun staying with you this evening or possibly a stranger?"
"I will admit to having both here but neither are fugitives to my knowledge. I offered my home as temporary shelter for a weary traveler and he brought an injured Kyuhyun to my house earlier today. I just assumed he was injured while working and the traveler ran into him and decided to aid him."
"Well I'm sorry to hear that you were not told the truth. Kyuhyun is a criminal, breaking several laws in Kon today and personally attacking myself the governor and that traveler interfered with the justice system." The conversation was approaching them much to Isa's dismay. At this point Jongwoon knew he would need to leave or else he would be killed and began to quickly pack his things.
"What are you doing? You think you can just escape?" Kyuhyun questioned, whispering just hoping that no one would hear them.
"If we stall for just a short time longer, then yes." Jongwoon went into the last drawer of the desk and put away his journal and grabbed the now mostly sapphire blue colored orb, though the very top of it was still a lighter blue but quickly darkening. "Once this fully turns dark then I can leave."
"What the hell is that? And how is it getting you out of here? Wait, are you just going to leave Isa and I to get killed?"
"That was not the plan entirely. As long as Isa keeps up her veil of ignorance then she should be fine. You should worry for yourself right now." Jongwoon had everything packed and just starred at the door with Kyuhyun standing next to him looking at him and the orb in his hand. The orb was just a little bit smaller than a soccer ball, which he found most worlds had some form of the game, so it fit perfectly in his hands so he wasn't afraid of losing it he ended up needing to fight his way out of this world. It was only a moment later that a couple of guards followed by Isa and Cyrus burst into the room. Isa mouthed a quick apology to Jongwoon but stayed mostly quiet. Jongwoon knew if she said too much then she would be killed and he really did not want that to happen.
"So we meet again gentlemen. So nice to see you."
"Cut the crap Cyrus, what do you want?" Kyuhyun shouted not wanting to play with the nice guy attitude Cyrus was trying to pull off.
"So hostile Kyuhyun as always. And I don't think you properly introduced me to your friend earlier." Cyrus turned his attention to Jongwoon, taking note of the orb and bag.
"I wouldn't say he's my friend, just someone I just met after you tossed me out here ealier."
"Oh really? Well I must say I'm surprised. Who knew someone would fight for the life of someone he did not know."
"I saved his life to protect the people of Kon from seeing their governor from killing someone in front of them as well as the fact that I really hate it when people are killed especially for political reasons." Jongwoon explained before Kyuhyun could say anything else.
"Well as you said you didn't want me to kill him in front of the people of Kon. Well we're no longer in front of the people of Kon, surely I can kill him now."
"You know fear is a good way to make people behave but push them too much and they won't take your threats any more. If you barge into homes and kill people, then I think you're pushing it too far."
"Yes, but they must know that there are consequences to breaking the law."
"Well I assure you that no one hear knew that he broke the law. Besides you already fired him from his job and kicked him out of Kon. Is that not enough of a punishment?" Although everything Jongwoon was saying was true, at this point he was just stalling for those last couple of minutes for the orb to finish charging.
"Yes but word will get out and if they think that their only punishment would be to be fired. No, they must know the consequences."
"Then you've lost." Jongwoon said just as he watched Isa grab the closest blunt object, which happened to be a broken chair leg, and hit Cyrus in the back of the head as hard as she could. The guards were in too much of shock to react at first giving both Jongwoon and Kyuhyun the chance to knock them out.
"You're right, he pushed too hard and that's all the motivation I needed to fight back and well now that I have him, I'm sure things will go smoothly enough." Isa found some rope and called out to some neighbors to help tie up the guards and Cyrus, setting their weapons to the side.
"You can handle things from here?"
"Yeah, go. It may take a while until everything can really classify as being better but Cyrus is now a captive and I'm sure we all have ideas on what to do with him. But our first thing will probably be to find his closest advocates and then take down that wall."
"Sounds like a good place to start. I'm sure you'll find that the people of Kon will be willing to help balance the inside and outside more than you might first assume."
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For everything. If you hadn't shown up then Kyuhyun would probably be dead right now and none of us would know it and we would continue to live this way until Cyrus or one of his descendents decides to get rid of us."
"Hey I helped!" Kyuhyun shouted, joining in on the conversation.
"Yes but if it wasn't for Jongwoon, your help would have gone unnoticed and probably further stopped us from fighting until it would be too late." Isa explained to the youngest which just caused him to scoff.
"Well anyways, since Cyrus is caught, my family was to succeed him if anything were to happen to his."
"No, Kyuhyun, we know you would help but we need a complete change. Now both of you should leave now before more guards come."
"Both of us!?"
"Yes Kyuhyun, both of you. I asked Jongwoon to take you from here. You have nothing left here. You'll never be happy here, so go find somewhere else and Jongwoon can do that." Isa explained, not letting Kyuhyun fight against her. "Just go. Please."
"I'm not sure if we'll meet again, though I would enjoy seeing how you fix Kon as one equal city. But I'm glad that I got to meet you. Come on Kyuhyun, before I change my mind." Jongwoon grabbed Kyuhyun's forearm with the hand not holding the orb and pulled him to one side of the room away from everyone else.
"Bye Jongwoon, Kyuhyun, I really hope you find whatever it is you're looking for." Isa said as one last thought before Jongwoon activated the orb.
Both Kyuhyun and Isa gasped as the orb split open at the top, opening out into a blue flower in Jongwoon's hand. Light formed a circle with symbols that neither recognized around the flower and then larger around Kyuhyun and Jongwoon. Kyuhyun was close to freaking out as he had no idea what was happening as the room was almost blinding now, the light enveloping Kyuhyun and Jongwoon. Once the light faded, the room was empty aside from Isa, since Cyrus and the guards were taken to the living room with the neighbors.
"Well it looks like you got that companion anyways. Thank you Jongwoon." Isa said before she closed the door to the room to begin working on the changes to take place.
A/N: Okay I know I have other stuff to work on like A Vampire's Wrath (which I'll be getting back to writing soon, I hope.) but this got in my head and I couldn't help but write it. I also happened to be reading Tsubasa when I saw the gif set that inspired this and so I ended up on traveling between worlds. (Okay I got some help officially deciding on it when I talked to Bianca Unnie.)
Each chapter will be a different world and I don't know how long it'll be. But if you have ideas that you want to share of types of worlds for them to visit or how they will meet members of suju (except hanchul) feel free to share. ^^
Hope to like it. Please comment, it really keeps me going on my writing.^^
^^♥
Pairing: Kyusung
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I'm from Ohio...not too many hot korean idols to own or make money of off. So do you think I'm doing that with these boys?...didn't think so
Summary: Jongwoon is a traveler, but not an ordinary traveler. To keep himself busy, he begins to write about all the places he visits and the people he meets, including one unwanted traveling companion.
~
It's been roughly three months since I left my home world and in that time I have been through so many worlds and so many different ways of life. I could figure out the exact amount of worlds I have been to but I really don't feel like doing the math, no matter how basic it truly is. Though even if it's been three months to me, that doesn't mean that each world's time move at the same pace. For all I know, it could have been only a week on my original world.
But enough of that. I'm not starting this journal as a discussion of the theories between different worlds but rather as a way to keep track of the places I go to and to share my trip to whoever may listen when I finely find someplace that fits me.
This time I find myself in a desolate city, one in which even after a day here I have yet to learn the name of. The people here live such poor lives and their city is practically in ruins. It is a surprise that they manage to live here. But as I have been told, they have no other choice. The ruler of this country or at least this city, refuses to allow them to leave. There is still much to learn about this place and I am lucky enough that a young woman by the name of Isa has welcomed me into her home and allowed me to stay.
Isa, it's such an interesting name, it holds some similarities to names you would find on my home world but still somehow very different. I have asked her what it means but she does not know the meaning. In my world everyone knew the meaning of their name as it held a meaning to you as a person. But I guess they don't have the same ideals here.
~ Jongwoon (Which literally means Cloud Luck. Though to be honest I have never figured out what that means for me as a person. But I was often told that it was a good name.)
"Jongwoon? Are you awake?" A soft knock and voice pulled Jongwoon from the thoughts of his journal. He quietly closed his book and set in the drawer next to a light blue orb that was getting darker at the base.
"Yes, Isa. I woke up not too long ago and since I did not know if you were awake, I thought it was best not to disturb you." Jongwoon said politely after he opened the door. The girl's petite frame and pale skin were a heavy contrast to the baggy, dark gray dress her government provided for her. With her long brown hair pulled back into a messy braid, it was easy for Jongwoon to see that she had already been working for a couple hours that morning.
"Oh it would be no problem, I wake up at dawn to start working most mornings. I have breakfast downstairs if you would like some." She offered.
"I told you, you did not need to provide food for me, the room is plenty already." He could tell that his words upset her though she tried to hide it, but her bright green eyes that intrigued Jongwoon so much gave it away. No one from his home country had eyes of any color than black, brown, or the occasional gray, so it was a rare sight to see for him.
"Well as my guest, I insist that you eat at least one meal a day with me. Is that too much to ask for? I would feel like a bad host if I didn't. And it's not often that I get to play host." Isa stated though she said the last line much quieter and from the looks of the town it wasn't hard to see why but he would explore that more later. Reluctantly he agreed to breakfast, which Isa had laid out carefully on her small, broken table. The chair looked somewhat unsafe to sit in, but surprisingly didn't break under him the entire time he sat there. To pay back for breakfast, Jongwoon insisted on doing the dishes for her. He was lucky enough to have a place to sleep, he did not want to take advantage of her kindness in any way. "I need to get back to work. Feel free to look around town but be back as soon as the sun sets. The patrol comes through as soon as darkness falls and anyone outside will be in trouble. Even more so if it's an outsider."
"I will be careful," was all Jongwoon could say before Isa left, rushing back to her job. He wasn't sure what exactly it was, but he assumed it had to be something outdoors since she had been covered in mud this morning as she had been yesterday when she offered him a place to stay.
Walking back outside, Jongwoon could really see how bad the place was. The streets were practically all mud, to the point where you could barely call them streets anymore. The buildings all around were cracked and close to falling apart, any major shake or disturbance could easily bring them down. He was amazed that they were still standing at all. He hadn't been able to question why the place was such a wreck yet, and with no one else in the streets, his questions would have to wait.
As he walked around the small town, the surroundings were mostly forests, but near the entrance their was a large gated wall, which is what he suspects keep the townsmen living in such a poor place. And on the opposing end were the fields where most of the townsmen were currently work. Though Jongwoon could see in the distance that the street slowly became more like one the further it went. Looking to where the road led there was yet another wall that Jongwoon could not see past. Luckily there was an elderly man in the field next to him that Jongwoon could ask.
"Excuse me, sir?" Jongwoon called and got the man's attention. "I was wondering, what is that up there? That wall?"
"That is Kon." (pronounced like "Cone") The man was obviously taken back by Jongwoon's lack of knowledge but continued to explain. "That is where anyone with power or money lives. They built the wall so they did not have to view all of us here and could live their life in ignorance. I assume there are some younger folks there who do not even know that we exist out here. One is only permitted into Kon with a pass."
"Basically like slaves?" The man nodded.
"Though those lucky enough to work in Kon are given baths and a work uniform upon entrance, so no one on the inside sees how bad it is out here."
"Why don't you leave then? Find somewhere else to start anew?"
"We cannot. Like you said before it's like slaves. We are all slaves down here, the wall on the other side of town is to keep us in here and none of us dare venture into the forests. A patrol keeps any creatures from getting into town from the forest, but most of the patrol are there to keep it from reaching Kon. If a creature rages through our town, they don't care as long as Kon is untouched."
"Surely they would not allow you to die. As workers who provide the food for Kon and work for them, they would not want to see you die."
"We are expendable to them. If we die, they can simply find someone from another area they own to take our places. And every once in a while, someone from Kon is expelled for losing money or power. Or once even for disrespecting the Governor who rules over the land and Kon. I'm sorry I can't answer more questions but I must get back to work." The elderly man politely dismissed Jongwoon, though he didn't mind as the man had answered many of his questions. Tomorrow he would be leaving for another place which means he only had until sunset to figure everything out and maybe help these people. But first he wanted a closer look at Kon.
Carefully he treaded down the muddy path, relieved when it became a more solid road and he no longer had to force his foot out of the mud each step he took. As expected from the elderly man's words, there were guards posted right outside the wall at a very secure looking gate that seemed to have many layers to it. The guards were quick to spot him and take a defensive pose and Jongwoon assumed it was his clothes that made them apprehensive. Jongwoon would not expect them to take such a defensive stance against someone from the town.
"State your business, stranger." One guard asked, obviously being a higher level guard since his armor was slightly different from the rest and he wore a red sash across his torso.
"I am a traveler just wishing to see the sights of the world."
"Where are you from? Your clothes are not like any we have seen before." The guard spoke again, not lowering his defenses.
"Very far. Much outside this country. I have been traveling for three months already and seen many of places. And I have heard of Kon and thought that it would be a sight to see during my journey." This was not the first time that Jongwoon had been heavily questioned before he was allowed entry to a town and he knew well not to be intimidated by the guards. If one answered curtly and in a way that would not seem harmful, then he would be allowed in.
"Very well traveler. You may enter. But know this, in Kon, one who has been outside these walls must not speak of what lies behind them to those who live inside. Kon is a paradise and we will not allow anything to ruin it."
"Understood. I will not stay long. Just enough to see some sights, maybe eat some food and then I shall be on my way again." The guard walked Jongwoon through the gate and pointed out some sights that he might want to see and reminded him once again of their law. Once alone, Jongwoon took a moment to get over the shock of just how different the two sides of the wall were. The outside was falling apart, while here the buildings were all standing tall. all in vibrant colors, and not a thing was out of place. The road was in pristine condition and adults and children alike were out in the streets, walking around, talking, playing games. It was such a contrast to the dark, decrepit, and dull town outside.
Jongwoon continued walking around the town, inspecting it carefully. Everything was so pristine and tidy, not a speck of dirt out of place or an untrimmed plant. It was almost scary how perfect everything seemed. He had seen a couple of workers who looked like they obviously came from the outside, if their clothes were anything to go by. But they seemed to be the only ones really working. The only workers seemed to be slaves from the outside town unless you count their overseers as workers.
Deciding that it was getting late enough to eat, Jongwoon stopped in the town's main square, completely with water fountain and all in the center, to sit down and eat a snack he had in his bag. Although there were many people in the square no one seemed to pay attention to him, even though he was obviously a foreigner. Sticking to just his favorite hobby of people watching while eating, Jongwoon paid very little mind to their conversations. However, a couple of girls near him were having a conversation that caught his interest.
"So did you hear about Tara?" Since there was no verbal response, Jongwoon could only assume the other person shook their head based on the next statement. "She was talking about wanting to vacation on the outside?"
"What? Really? Did she manage to get travel permits? I can only imagine what it's like. Sunshine, open fields of grass and forests, and maybe a lake or a river. Wouldn't it be great?"
"I don't know if she has the permits yet, but just imagine spending the week on break, sitting by a beach or having a picnic in a grassy field. It's like a dream."
"Those who live outside must have it so good. It's nice here but it gets a little boring just seeing that wall and the wind is probably better out there too." Jongwoon scoffed silently at the girls' conversation as it was far from the truth. The only thing they managed to get correct, was that yes, the wind was better outside these walls. But the outside still had walls of its own. They were trapped the same as everyone in Kon was, just that Kon had acceptable living standards.
But the one thing that struck Jongwoon the most about their conversation was just how much they didn't know. It was like the elderly man had said, they were ignorant of what the outside looked like. They were not aware of how the people were living and being treated and that those who lived in Kon, although feeling trapped, were in much better shape. It's almost funny for these girls to say they envied those on the outside, Jongwoon doubted they would if they knew the reality of it.
Before Jongwoon could go back to listening in on the girls' conversation, there was a loud noise nearby that sounded almost like someone being thrown into a wooden door. Jongwoon has had experience with that in the past, so he knows exactly what it sounds like. Jongwoon carefully decided to investigate the noise especially as the shouts were becoming louder and more violent. Luckily Jongwoon stayed far enough to the side as he neared the small street the noise was coming from, that as they charged out of the street, he was not run into himself. The group of soldiers were chasing a boy probably a tiny bit younger than Jongwoon himself and a slave by the looks of his clothing.
Entering into the town square, many of the people who had been enjoying the early afternoon sun had backed out of the way of the fight, yet stayed where they could watch. The boy had tripped once in the town square allowing the guards to surround him. The boy was not about to back down as he jumped right back up into a fighting stance ready to take on any guard who dared to step forward. One after another the guards attacked the boy but he pushed each one off with much skill, often knocking them into each other to keep the other guards off him for a moment. Although he was going unarmed against guards readily equipped with swords, the boy seemed to have the upper hand.
Jongwoon watched carefully even more intrigued by the boy as Jongwoon could see that he was quite injured. He assumes that the boy was the one to be thrown into the door as it was obvious to Jongwoon that the boy would flinch when he moved his back in a certain direction indicating the severe pain it was in. He also saw that the boy was stepping very delicately on his right foot, keeping most of his weight on the left. It was also the same foot that managed to trip him as he ran into the square meaning that he must have injured his ankle at some point whether when he tripped or before Jongwoon does not know. Looking up again at the boy's fighting style, he was welled trained, even more so when he managed to hit a guard right in the wrist as the guard's sword came down, easily knocking it out of his hand and taking it for himself. Only a highly trained fighter would be able to pull off that move. And now that the boy was armed, Jongwoon was waiting for this to get really interesting. But what came next was probably the biggest shock, the boy spoke as he forced the guards to maintain a distance from him.
"Cyrus, you lie to all these people and try to kill anyone that speaks up!" The boy pointed his sword at a very well dressed man, clothes much more ornate than anyone else he had seen so far, who stood proudly at the entrance to the street the boy had been chased from. Jongwoon could see the man was angry even though he tried to keep a stoic appearance. "You lead them to believe that the outside is just as perfect as the inside is and yet you trap them all here so that your cruelty will not be shown. That no one can see that outside these walls might as well be a wasteland. It's unlivable and yet you force so many to spend their lives wasting away out there while you live in your big house with someone to take care of your every need."
"You forget Kyuhyun, until your parents died, you lived here just as I do." The man, Cyrus said, not being intimidated or at least not showing it.
"Yeah until you forced me out there. Out there to see the harsh reality that you try so hard to hide. You're a coward, you know that if the people of Kon saw how you treated the people out there, that they would overthrow you. You would lose your power as governor. So to protect it, you keep everyone from Kon trapped inside and keep everyone else out who don't have a pass and threaten death if they so much as utter a word about the outside."
"Life in Kon is a paradise, there is no reason for anyone to want to leave it for the unpredictable world outside. And we just don't want anyone to enter who might cause trouble, that is all." Lies, they were easy to spot and as the governor Jongwoon figured he had lots of practice telling them so he could keep crowds under control and on his side.
"Bullshit! And you know it. And I bet that my parents' death was on your hands as well."
"And why would you think I had a part of that? It was a simple house fire. Besides why would I wish to kill your parents?" Jongwoon was pissed by this point, not as much as the boy was but still very angry. The governor's smirk and posture gave him away to anyone he knew what to look for from people like him. That man had killed the boy's family and was the reason for Isa and her townsmen to be in such a horrid place. It was sickening.
"My father knew what the outside was. He knew what you did to those people and how you treat them and force them to live. You knew he wanted to take you down, so you killed him for it and played it off as an accident."
"Kyuhyun, I tire of this useless bickering. You have broken the law. You assaulted me and my guards as well as spoken lies of the outside."
"They're not lies! You have forced me to live in them."
"While I admit they are not as luxurious as our homes here are, it is just the fall from you wealth that has you believing it worse than it is. Guards he should be sentenced to death, you may carry out the sentence." Cyrus began to walk away, not wishing to witness the boy's death first hand and not bothering to pay attention to any of the gasps that were heard all around the town square. Jongwoon had enough by this point and was not allow the man to go any further and stepped in his way.
"Stop. You wouldn't want to tarnish your image and make all these witnesses question the boy's words after you try to cover them up, would you? You have already spoken against his so called lies, so do you want to have to explain why you killed a boy in the middle of the day in the middle of the town? I don't think it would look very good if a boy was brutally killed by the governor's orders in a place that is considered paradise." Jongwoon carefully spoke, trying not to let his anger out to much or say something that would get himself sentenced to death as well. The governor thought carefully over his words and was clearly annoyed.
"Fine, he may live but get him out of my town." He shouted back to the guards. "As for you, I would suggest you leave quickly as well lest you do something to cause problems." He said to Jongwoon who just kept his stern look on the man but allowed him to pass saying nothing in return. Jongwoon watched as Kyuhyun was beaten down and had the sword taken from his when he was too busy paying attention to Jongwoon and Cyrus and not on the guards. Looking back around, the townsmen gathered in the square began to gossip again, but all seemed relieved that the boy was not going to be killed.
Jongwoon decided he had enough of Kon and it's supposed paradise likeness and followed the guards with Kyuhyun back outside. The guards tossed Kyuhyun rather roughly back onto the road to the town once they were outside the gate and immediately pointed swords at him again as he jumped back up into a fighting position. However Kyuhyun relaxed as Jongwoon pushed the guards out of his way rather harshly, even causing one to loose his balance and land in the dirt, glaring at them as he walked past.
"You alright kid?"
"You didn't need to step in, I had it handled."
"Because that's exactly what I would call being surrounded by guards and sentenced to death." Jongwoon rolled his eyes and pulled Kyuhyun to walk with him back to the town.
"What does it matter anyways? Being dead would be better then my position now. Stripped of everything I had and now powerless to fight against that bastard."
"Death should never be an option, not for anyone. Now lets get you somewhere and treat those wounds." Jongwoon lead Kyuhyun back to Isa's home and forced him to sit down in the kitchen and wait so Jongwoon could grab the first aid kit he traveled with.
"You really don't need to help me?"
"Oh yeah because from what I see of you, I totally trust that you will take care of your own injuries. Your lower back is heavily bruised, your ankle is swollen, a black eye, various sword wounds and other bruises. At this point you should be lucky you don't have any broken bones." Jongwoon said annoyed as he finished securing Kyuhyun's ankle.
"Jongwoon, are you here?"
"In the kitchen Isa." Jongwoon answered deeming Kyuhyun fully bandaged up.
"What happened?" She asked the moment she saw Kyuhyun sitting there covered in bandages.
"I went into Kon today and Kyuhyun here decided to make a scene and get himself beaten up by the guards and even sentenced to death. Though I managed to stop that last part."
"He was sentenced to death? Wait you went into Kon? How?"
"As a traveler they gave me permission to enter Kon." Jongwoon explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Isa decided to leave it alone and turn her attention back to the matter with Kyuhyun.
"What did you do?"
"I was just stating the truth, the same truth my father was trying to expose before he was killed for it."
"Kyuhyun I know you're new here but we're just trying to live. Trying to expose the truth would get us all killed. But as horrible as this life is, it's still our life and we're not just going to throw it away. You weren't meant to be here and live this life with us, but you could at least not make it worse for us while you are here."
"Why don't you want to fight? Why don't you want to help yourselves?" Kyuhyun argued back, not understand how the townsfolk could stand to live where they aren't even treated like human beings.
"Because we learned a long time ago that our lives are worth more than the fight is. Even if we were to fight, we can't guarantee that any thing would actually change."
"You can never guarantee that any thing will change but that doesn't make the fight not worth it. Just to make the people of Kon realize how everyone here is treated is something. To get it in their heads that Cyrus is an evil ass is something."
"And you think throwing away your life will accomplish that? Kyuhyun, it's not that we don't want to fight, it's just that we don't want to make things even worse for ourselves. Fighting could go in many different ways and leave us with some very different results many of which are probably worse then our current situation. When you put the chances of us making it better for everyone against then chances of it being worse, then it's just not worth the effort and loss of life." Isa explained in another way hoping that Kyuhyun would finally understand. Her voice took on a much softer tone, almost as if she were talking to child, though if Kyuhyun was as old as Jongwoon assumed then to Isa it might as well be like talking to a child. Isa was a couple of years older than Jongwoon, he knows because when she asked him how old he was she gave her own as well. So the age difference between her and Kyuhyun could be close to ten years though Jongwoon couldn't be certain about that.
"But you can't know until you try at least." Kyuhyun said as a final thought, knowing that he was beaten but still wanting to try one last thing.
"If we find a way to fight without putting our lives directly in front of their swords then we might actually fight back, but until then we shall go on as we have. Now it's getting late and the sun will be setting very soon so Kyuhyun you're staying the night."
"The sun sets a little earlier here then I expected." Jongwoon noticed, looking outside at the sun as it began to set.
"Yeah it does around this time of year, though it will set even earlier next month before the days lengthen again."
"Interesting. In my home we had very little change to when the sun was to set. Though that may have been because of the elders' abilities."
"Your elders' had the ability to change the setting of the sun?" Kyuhyun asked, rather surprised as he jumped back into the conversation.
"I can't say for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did. The elders were the strongest and most knowledgeable in the country. But there are a lot of differences between here and there.
"Your home seems rather far away and right now, far away sounds nice."
"It's been about three months since I left but I still don't think it's far enough yet."
"So you're running away."
"I wouldn't say running away, just no reason to stay."
"Well lets not talk about anything depressing while we eat." Isa suggested as she noticed the distant and almost sad look from Jongwoon as he talked about his home.
"I told you Isa, you don't have to cook for me."
"And I thought I told you that I do what I want and what I want is to make dinner for everyone. If you want to help in some way, then if you have some fruit then you can cut some up and share." Jongwoon thought for a moment and agreed when he remember some fruit that he picked up at the last world he was in. He carefully cut it up for them to eat with the dinner that Isa made, though was a little worried since he had only a little explanation of it and wasn't sure if he was preparing it correctly. But thankfully both Isa and Kyuhyun liked it and were not feeling sick at all that night.
Since the sun had set by the time the three had finished eating, there was no way they could go outside, so they spent the evening just talking in Isa's living room. Isa explained the reasoning further as when the separation was first created, many of the townsmen who were not permitted into Kon tried to break in after sunset or tried to leave the outer walls. She explained that secret meetings had also been taking place under the veil of darkness. So in response to it, the governor of the time, Cyrus's distant relative, Isa and Kyuhyun are not sure exactly how long his family has been governing, set up a patrol to discourage any of these activities. Anyone found out after darkness would be taken to a jail of sorts and basically tortured for a couple days and if they survived they were released back to the town without any medical treatment. The only ones allowed out were those who had a statement from their employer in Kon and that they were returning home from being worked late. The horror stories of those who survived long enough to make it back were enough to scare off any attempt to rebel.
"Jongwoon, can I talk to you for a second?" Isa asked a little later that night once she had sent Kyuhyun to bed, which was on the floor of Jongwoon's room since she had no where else to put him.
"Of course." Jongwoon followed her into the kitchen where if Kyuhyun woke up, hopefully he would not hear them talking.
"I think you should leave as soon as the sun rises in the morning. I can't trust that the governor won't try anything to get back at you for stopping him."
"I told you when I arrived that I would only be here for two nights and three days. As soon as I can leave, I will."
"What do you mean by as soon as you can?" Isa asked puzzled, not knowing what may be stopping him aside from possibly the guards.
"My mode of transportation takes time to recharge so to speak. I can't really fully explain it to you, but if you want I can show when I leave."
"Alright if that's the only form of explanation I can get, I'll take it. Though I have one request?"
"What would that be?"
"Take Kyuhyun with you."
"What?" To say Jongwoon was surprised would be an understatement though he hid his shock behind his usual calm and stoic expression.
"I don't trust for him to not be killed here especially after you leave. Cyrus is not a forgiving man and from what Kyuhyun has told me before, Cyrus's family has had a long standing hatred of Kyuhyun's. Cyrus is just the first to take action against the family that was this severe. Just take him somewhere where he can start a new life. He can't do that here and he will keep trying to fight Cyrus until he really is dead."
"I'm not looking for someone to travel with me. I've always been better on my own."
"You don't have to keep him with you, just get him out of here and then he can go his own separate way." Isa begged, he understood her reason but wasn't sure if he could actually allow himself to take someone else along with him even for just a short while. "Think about it before you leave, please." She tried one last time before she headed to bed herself. Silently Jongwoon crawled into the bed Isa gave him to use when he first arrived so he wouldn't wake up Kyuhyun. There was too much on Jongwoon's mind to actually fall asleep so instead he just looked over at the sleeping boy in the floor. He was obviously in pain from all his injuries, he couldn't hide it while he was sleeping like he did earlier. Jongwoon wondered if he could actually stand to have someone with him for even a little while but the idea made him nervous. He has never had anyone actually stick around with him since he left his home world and always thought it better to be alone. Jongwoon has always been better alone, even since he was a child it has been that way.
Jongwoon was pulled away from his thoughts when he heard noises outside. There was no way that it was the townsmen so the only answer was that it was guards. Now the only question was were they going after something from the forest or where they after Kyuhyun and possibly himself. His question was answered when he heard them grouping together at Isa's front door. Kyuhyun was slowly waking up to the noise and apparently so was Isa as they heard her run to the front door to see what was going on. Shortly afterwards there was shouting going on and both he and Kyuhyun were up and ready for anything that might happen.
"It's the middle of the night, why are you in my home?" The heard Isa shout at the guards.
"We hear you are harboring a couple of fugitives." Cyrus, they both would recognize his voice anywhere after the incident this afternoon. But now it was obvious that the death sentence was not removed for very long and that it has at least extended to Jongwoon if not possibly Isa.
"I am not harboring any fugitives."
"So you do not have your relatively new townsman Kyuhyun staying with you this evening or possibly a stranger?"
"I will admit to having both here but neither are fugitives to my knowledge. I offered my home as temporary shelter for a weary traveler and he brought an injured Kyuhyun to my house earlier today. I just assumed he was injured while working and the traveler ran into him and decided to aid him."
"Well I'm sorry to hear that you were not told the truth. Kyuhyun is a criminal, breaking several laws in Kon today and personally attacking myself the governor and that traveler interfered with the justice system." The conversation was approaching them much to Isa's dismay. At this point Jongwoon knew he would need to leave or else he would be killed and began to quickly pack his things.
"What are you doing? You think you can just escape?" Kyuhyun questioned, whispering just hoping that no one would hear them.
"If we stall for just a short time longer, then yes." Jongwoon went into the last drawer of the desk and put away his journal and grabbed the now mostly sapphire blue colored orb, though the very top of it was still a lighter blue but quickly darkening. "Once this fully turns dark then I can leave."
"What the hell is that? And how is it getting you out of here? Wait, are you just going to leave Isa and I to get killed?"
"That was not the plan entirely. As long as Isa keeps up her veil of ignorance then she should be fine. You should worry for yourself right now." Jongwoon had everything packed and just starred at the door with Kyuhyun standing next to him looking at him and the orb in his hand. The orb was just a little bit smaller than a soccer ball, which he found most worlds had some form of the game, so it fit perfectly in his hands so he wasn't afraid of losing it he ended up needing to fight his way out of this world. It was only a moment later that a couple of guards followed by Isa and Cyrus burst into the room. Isa mouthed a quick apology to Jongwoon but stayed mostly quiet. Jongwoon knew if she said too much then she would be killed and he really did not want that to happen.
"So we meet again gentlemen. So nice to see you."
"Cut the crap Cyrus, what do you want?" Kyuhyun shouted not wanting to play with the nice guy attitude Cyrus was trying to pull off.
"So hostile Kyuhyun as always. And I don't think you properly introduced me to your friend earlier." Cyrus turned his attention to Jongwoon, taking note of the orb and bag.
"I wouldn't say he's my friend, just someone I just met after you tossed me out here ealier."
"Oh really? Well I must say I'm surprised. Who knew someone would fight for the life of someone he did not know."
"I saved his life to protect the people of Kon from seeing their governor from killing someone in front of them as well as the fact that I really hate it when people are killed especially for political reasons." Jongwoon explained before Kyuhyun could say anything else.
"Well as you said you didn't want me to kill him in front of the people of Kon. Well we're no longer in front of the people of Kon, surely I can kill him now."
"You know fear is a good way to make people behave but push them too much and they won't take your threats any more. If you barge into homes and kill people, then I think you're pushing it too far."
"Yes, but they must know that there are consequences to breaking the law."
"Well I assure you that no one hear knew that he broke the law. Besides you already fired him from his job and kicked him out of Kon. Is that not enough of a punishment?" Although everything Jongwoon was saying was true, at this point he was just stalling for those last couple of minutes for the orb to finish charging.
"Yes but word will get out and if they think that their only punishment would be to be fired. No, they must know the consequences."
"Then you've lost." Jongwoon said just as he watched Isa grab the closest blunt object, which happened to be a broken chair leg, and hit Cyrus in the back of the head as hard as she could. The guards were in too much of shock to react at first giving both Jongwoon and Kyuhyun the chance to knock them out.
"You're right, he pushed too hard and that's all the motivation I needed to fight back and well now that I have him, I'm sure things will go smoothly enough." Isa found some rope and called out to some neighbors to help tie up the guards and Cyrus, setting their weapons to the side.
"You can handle things from here?"
"Yeah, go. It may take a while until everything can really classify as being better but Cyrus is now a captive and I'm sure we all have ideas on what to do with him. But our first thing will probably be to find his closest advocates and then take down that wall."
"Sounds like a good place to start. I'm sure you'll find that the people of Kon will be willing to help balance the inside and outside more than you might first assume."
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For everything. If you hadn't shown up then Kyuhyun would probably be dead right now and none of us would know it and we would continue to live this way until Cyrus or one of his descendents decides to get rid of us."
"Hey I helped!" Kyuhyun shouted, joining in on the conversation.
"Yes but if it wasn't for Jongwoon, your help would have gone unnoticed and probably further stopped us from fighting until it would be too late." Isa explained to the youngest which just caused him to scoff.
"Well anyways, since Cyrus is caught, my family was to succeed him if anything were to happen to his."
"No, Kyuhyun, we know you would help but we need a complete change. Now both of you should leave now before more guards come."
"Both of us!?"
"Yes Kyuhyun, both of you. I asked Jongwoon to take you from here. You have nothing left here. You'll never be happy here, so go find somewhere else and Jongwoon can do that." Isa explained, not letting Kyuhyun fight against her. "Just go. Please."
"I'm not sure if we'll meet again, though I would enjoy seeing how you fix Kon as one equal city. But I'm glad that I got to meet you. Come on Kyuhyun, before I change my mind." Jongwoon grabbed Kyuhyun's forearm with the hand not holding the orb and pulled him to one side of the room away from everyone else.
"Bye Jongwoon, Kyuhyun, I really hope you find whatever it is you're looking for." Isa said as one last thought before Jongwoon activated the orb.
Both Kyuhyun and Isa gasped as the orb split open at the top, opening out into a blue flower in Jongwoon's hand. Light formed a circle with symbols that neither recognized around the flower and then larger around Kyuhyun and Jongwoon. Kyuhyun was close to freaking out as he had no idea what was happening as the room was almost blinding now, the light enveloping Kyuhyun and Jongwoon. Once the light faded, the room was empty aside from Isa, since Cyrus and the guards were taken to the living room with the neighbors.
"Well it looks like you got that companion anyways. Thank you Jongwoon." Isa said before she closed the door to the room to begin working on the changes to take place.
A/N: Okay I know I have other stuff to work on like A Vampire's Wrath (which I'll be getting back to writing soon, I hope.) but this got in my head and I couldn't help but write it. I also happened to be reading Tsubasa when I saw the gif set that inspired this and so I ended up on traveling between worlds. (Okay I got some help officially deciding on it when I talked to Bianca Unnie.)
Each chapter will be a different world and I don't know how long it'll be. But if you have ideas that you want to share of types of worlds for them to visit or how they will meet members of suju (except hanchul) feel free to share. ^^
Hope to like it. Please comment, it really keeps me going on my writing.^^
^^♥