Bricolage [5/20]
Title: Bricolage [5/20]
Author: ixjaydee
Pairing: Jongyu;; TaeSeob;; minor!Minkey;; minor!JongKyung
Rating: PG-13
Genre: drama;; action/adventure;; romance;;
Disclaimer: I own the world, just not the people in it.
Summary: Prince Jonghyun, ruler of the Kingdom of Carmadon had his work cut out for him already. In between taking care of the uneasy townspeople, and searching for a traitor in his midst, he must leave his kingdom in the hands of his younger brother and his royal adviser as he prepares to set out on a conquest to the Unknown World in search for a cure for the disease sweeping through the kingdoms.
The journey wouldn’t be easy. The Unknown World was riddled with shady characters: sorcerers, shape shifters, outlaws, assassins, bandits, monsters of every sort. As if that wasn’t bad enough, things get a little bit more complicated when he falls in love with someone that he should have never fallen for in the first place, a love that would bring the downfall of his kingdom.
AN;; And finally. Here's Onew, after thirty something odd pages. A little bit shorter than previous chapters, but what can you do? lol
-
05
-
Jonghyun, Minho, and the few other men that had volunteered for the journey into the Unknown World stood at the edge of the forest path, just past the stables. Jonghyun made it clear that they may not come back alive. These men were the only ones brave enough to follow their ruler.
Doojoon gave one last look over the horses and equipment. Making sure the reins were in good condition, making sure the horses were in the best condition they could be before they left, making sure the carriage wasn’t going to collapse on them any time soon. Yoseob and Taemin stood with the others, bidding them good luck and good bye.
“Take good care of my brother. He’s the only one I have.” Yoseob nodded as Jonghyun gripped both of his shoulders. “I’ll do my best, Sire.” Jonghyun nodded this time, patting him on the side of the arm with a gloved hand. “Good man.”
Taemin slipped in on the side and gave his brother a tight hug, burying his face into his chest. “Come back soon okay? Be safe.” Jonghyun laughed and ruffled his brother’s hair before returning the hug. “I will. Try not to make a mess of the kingdom huh?” Taemin pulled away and punched his brother in the arm. “I’ll probably run it better than you!”
Jonghyun laughed again before Doojoon led his horse over to him. Minho already mounted his horse and waited at the entrance to the forest path. Jonghyun got onto his horse and pulled at the reins.
“I promise I’ll return with the cure.” Taemin nodded and gave him a smile. Yoseob sidled up next to him quietly, whispering something about needed to return to the castle. They all bid good bye one last time before the pair turned to make their way back to the castle.
Jonghyun watched their retreating backs until they disappeared into the horizon. He turned towards Minho and nodded. Minho nudged the sides of his horse and led the way down the forest path.
--
It had been a while since Jonghyun came down this way. The last time he did, he was in a hurry to get to Anvilis and back again. The sunlight filtered through the canopy of leaves in jagged lines. The forest was quieter than usual, making the sounds of hooves and rolling wheels unusually loud.
They were going to make their way to the small town at the edge of the Known World. The barrier between the two worlds was nothing more than a wall of shimmering air, almost a looking glass into the different between the two words. Usually, nothing in the Unknown World tried to cross the barrier between them, and the same went for the inhabitants of the Known World. There was just something ominous about the way it went from bright and sunny to a sky that almost glowed red.
As soon as they made it out of the forest, Jonghyun shielded his eyes from the blinding sunlight that was once blocked by the forest. He glanced out over the vast valley in front of him, trying to make out the exit in the side. “At this rate, we’ll reach the outpost by sunset. We’ll sleep for the night, make sure everything is in order then make our way into the Unknown World.”
--
The following morning, the caravan stood at the border between the World. The border was created back in days of old. The Unknown World was originally a place for banishment, where the rulers of the Kingdoms of Old sent their most wicked, where they banished the monsters that plagued their people. The sorcerers of old were much more powerful than the sorcerers now. Magic was almost nonexistent in the present time, save for a few who could heal, and a few that wielded black magic.
Jonghyun held his map of the Unknown World that Taemin had supplied him. Most of the areas were blank, showing only the areas Explorer Yunho had discovered and recorded in his journal. “The closest outpost is hours away, in this direction.” His fingers traced the path as Minho watched over his shoulder. “I guess that’s where we’ll start. We can stop there and ask a few questions...”
“There are people that live in the Unknown World?” One of the men asked, perplexed. Jonghyun tucked the map into his armor and shook his head. “I wouldn’t exactly call them people. Just try not to make yourself look delicious.” He glanced back towards the barrier. Lucifer pawed the ground nervously. “It’s okay buddy.” He rubbed his neck before sitting back up.
“Everyone ready?” There was a murmur of agreement behind him. Jonghyun turned back to the barrier and took a deep breath, his heart beating in excitement and anxiety. He nudged Lucifer’s sides and rode straight through the barrier.
There was the sound of shattering glass as soon as he touch the barrier, and a rushing wind. The world around him blurred as he shielded his eyes, urging his horse forward. It felt like something was squeezing him until the wind suddenly stopped. He put his arm down and looked out at the expanse before him.
One by one, he heard the sounds of shattering glass as everyone emerged on the other side of the barrier. Minho rode out next to him, both of them scanning the area. Everything was suddenly bathed in an orange red glow. The sun beamed mercilessly on them, making everything scorching hot. The land in front of them was desert, dotted with the occasional large boulder and shrub, and large sinkholes.
There was a wooden sign that lay broken on the ground, faded letters written across the surface. Jonghyun dismounted Lucifer for a moment, leading him over to the edge of the desert, squatting down and squinting at the sign on the floor.
“Beware of... sand wyrm?” Jonghyun picked up the sign, dusting the sand off and blowing at it in hopes of making the smaller text legible. He squinted, trying to read the text. “Uh... Sire.” Jonghyun looked up across the great expanse before something caught his eye.
“What in the world...” He shielded his eyes from the sunlight with his hand. A way away in the distance, a sinkhole started to form, quite rapidly. Then suddenly, a large worm type thing with a circle of rotating razor sharp teeth burst from the sands, straight up into the air. Everyone flinched back a step as it landed on the ground, side-winding a few feet before burrowing back into the sand.
“Holy mother of Gods. That thing looks like it could eat something pretty damn big,” Jonghyun said with a look of apprehension on his face. Even under the glaring sun, he could see Minho turn a little bit pale. “I think we’ve been living too much of an easy life,” he said slowly. Jonghyun turned around to look at his men, all of them looking nervous and anxious.
“Regret your decision to come with me now?” All of them looked around at each other for a moment before shaking their heads. “Wherever you lead, Sire, we will follow.” Jonghyun smiled and returned his gaze back to the sign. He hit it a few times to knock off more sand and ended up breaking it even further.
Minho rolled his eyes from his horse. “Are you blind or something?” He hopped off of Beast and looked over Jonghyun’s shoulder as he held the sign back together. “Beware of sand wryms... Keep moving, don’t stand still... something about running if a sinkhole starts to form underneath your feet... and avoid making loud noises. Your script is worse than this, and you can read that but not this?” Jonghyun rolled his eyes and turned towards his men again.
“Hear that? Don’t stand still, run for your life if you start sinking into the sand, and be quiet.” The two of them returned to their horses and nudged them forward gently. The rest of the men followed quietly.
--
Minho took the rear, keeping his eyes peeled for the sand wyms. He and Jonghyun communicated silently through their hand signals every now and then. Jonghyun heard someone sneeze behind him and panicked slightly. His eyes darted all around, looking for any sign of sand wyrm. When he finally relaxed a little bit, he felt Lucifer stumble slightly. He glanced down to see a sink hole forming. Without even thinking, he shouted a warning.
“Sinkhole!”
“Sire!” Minho hissed from the back. More cries filled the air as every urged their horses to move faster.
And then they were everywhere.
One sand wyrm burst from the sand right in front of Jonghyun. His jaw dropped as it soared into the air above him. “HOLY MOTHER OF-”
“JONGHYUN, MOVE!” Minho shouted, directing his horse over to Jonghyun and giving Lucifer a good slap. Lucifer ducked to the side, whipping Jonghyun around on top of him, making him cling to the reins for dear life. The sand wyrm fell with a resounding quake where Jonghyun was staring at it like an idiot before wiggling a little bit and burrowing back under the sand.
Jonghyun rode beside the carriage while Minho led the way towards the outpost. They were popping up constantly behind them, everyone feeling the vibrations sent through the ground as they landed one after another. “Why are there so many of them?!” Jonghyun cried.
Another sand wyrm popped up in front of the carriage, causing the driver to swerve around it, tipping the carriage towards Jonghyun. It was going to fall. Jonghyun looked back and forth quickly before apologizing to his horse. “I’m sorry Lucifer, this might hurt a little bit.” He yanked on his reins, causing the horse to slam into the side of the carriage with enough force to make it fall back onto its wheels.
The horse neighed loudly, clearly indignant, or in pain. Jonghyun couldn’t tell. The sand wyrm fell with another quake behind Jonghyun, teeth coming dangerously close to him. Sand billowed up, stinging his eyes and blurring his vision while he inhaled a lungful of sand. He could barely make out the sight of the outpost at the end of the desert while coughing.
Then the next thing he knew, he was thrown off of Lucifer, sliding and rolling on the sand before finally coming to a stop with a groan. He heard Lucifer’s frantic cries, then felt something nudging at his chest. He couldn’t see, good god, why couldn’t he see. His hands were so full of sand, rubbing at them wouldn’t do any good.
“YOUR HIGHNESS!” He heard Minho yell from somewhere far off. Jonghyun groaned and struggled to push himself up off the ground. Then he started to sink. He struggled for dear life against the sand as Lucifer pawed the ground frantically trying to get him up before hurrying out of the sink hole. He felt fingers close around his arm and pull him forcefully out of the hole onto solid land. No, over a shoulder. He tried to open his eyes to see who it was, but it just made them sting even worse. What in the world was in this sand? He opened his mouth to say something but ended up coughing up sand instead.
His savior didn’t move, even when the sand wyrm burst from the sands in front of them. He held out his arm, saying a few words in a language Jonghyun didn’t recognize. Then there was no more noise. Opening one eye, he turned his head forcefully to see what was going on behind him. The sand wyrm was frozen in place. The man walked over to Lucifer and grabbed his reins before leading him the rest of the way to the outpost with Jonghyun over his shoulder, coughing his lungs out.
Minho and the others rushed the man as he laid their king down on the ground, turning back to the frozen sand wyrm. He uttered a single word, and the sand wyrm retreated back into the ground.
Jonghyun groaned as he heard clamoring above him. Too many people, all at once. Minho seemed to sense that and ordered the others to back off. He turned his attention to the man in all black. Despite the beating sun, he was wearing all black, a jacket fastened on the side with silver buttons. The collar covered his neck and had belts fastened in front. He wore an eye patch over one eye, but there were two straps, one going around his head, and one going across his face. His skin was pale white. He wore tight blank pants that disappeared into dusty black boots.
Minho watched him look Jonghyun over with his one eye before moving forward. People moved out of his way before he squatted down in front of Jonghyun. “It’s best we move him inside. He took quite the fall. I need to remove the sands from him before it rots his body.” He stood back up and started walking.
Minho handed his reins over to someone else and scooped up Jonghyun from the ground. “Ow, oh god, Minho?” Jonghyun rasped out.
“Yeah.”
“Could you be a little bit more gentle? I think I’ve broken every bone in my body.”
--
Everyone watched as Minho laid Jonghyun down on a bed. The mysterious man sat down next to him, waving one hand over his body, mumbling a few words. The sand lifted up off his body, flowing in a stream towards his fingers. Jonghyun coughed again as a stream of sand flowed from his mouth.
Everyone watched in amazement as the mysterious man dumped it onto the ground next to the bed inside of the shady inn. Jonghyun groaned before forcing himself to sit up. “I healed his internal injuries as well.” He blinked his one eye a few times before getting up and going for the door as everyone else gathered around Jonghyun.
Minho slipped out of the crowd for a moment and followed the man. “Thank you,” he said as they walked down the stairs. “It’s not every day people from the Known World come to visit us forsaken. You probably don’t understand exactly how difficult it is to survive in this world.” He walked behind the counter top and pick up a glass and a rag.
“How did you know we were coming?” The man started to clean the glass and looked out towards the desert. “When the glass shatters, someone has broken the barrier between the Worlds. And like I stated before, we don’t get many visitors.” Minho blinked a few times before he heard the door opening and closing behind him.
Jonghyun walked down the stairs slowly and met eyes with the man behind the counter. “Thank you for saving my life. What’s your name?”
The man grinned, putting the glass down. “Names are of little value here. But for addressing purposes, you can call me Onew.”
“I’m Jonghyun.”
“Prince Jonghyun,” Minho said from the stairs. Onew chuckled again. “It wouldn’t matter if he was a god himself. There are no laws here. It’s every thing for itself, because you know, not everything here is human.”
“Are you a sorcerer?”
“You could say that.” He poured some water into the glass and handed it to Jonghyun, who took it gratefully and drank it all in a few gulps.
“So,” Onew said leaning on the counter. “What brings a prince and his men to a World infested with things from your nightmares?”
Author: ixjaydee
Pairing: Jongyu;; TaeSeob;; minor!Minkey;; minor!JongKyung
Rating: PG-13
Genre: drama;; action/adventure;; romance;;
Disclaimer: I own the world, just not the people in it.
Summary: Prince Jonghyun, ruler of the Kingdom of Carmadon had his work cut out for him already. In between taking care of the uneasy townspeople, and searching for a traitor in his midst, he must leave his kingdom in the hands of his younger brother and his royal adviser as he prepares to set out on a conquest to the Unknown World in search for a cure for the disease sweeping through the kingdoms.
The journey wouldn’t be easy. The Unknown World was riddled with shady characters: sorcerers, shape shifters, outlaws, assassins, bandits, monsters of every sort. As if that wasn’t bad enough, things get a little bit more complicated when he falls in love with someone that he should have never fallen for in the first place, a love that would bring the downfall of his kingdom.
AN;; And finally. Here's Onew, after thirty something odd pages. A little bit shorter than previous chapters, but what can you do? lol
-
05
-
Jonghyun, Minho, and the few other men that had volunteered for the journey into the Unknown World stood at the edge of the forest path, just past the stables. Jonghyun made it clear that they may not come back alive. These men were the only ones brave enough to follow their ruler.
Doojoon gave one last look over the horses and equipment. Making sure the reins were in good condition, making sure the horses were in the best condition they could be before they left, making sure the carriage wasn’t going to collapse on them any time soon. Yoseob and Taemin stood with the others, bidding them good luck and good bye.
“Take good care of my brother. He’s the only one I have.” Yoseob nodded as Jonghyun gripped both of his shoulders. “I’ll do my best, Sire.” Jonghyun nodded this time, patting him on the side of the arm with a gloved hand. “Good man.”
Taemin slipped in on the side and gave his brother a tight hug, burying his face into his chest. “Come back soon okay? Be safe.” Jonghyun laughed and ruffled his brother’s hair before returning the hug. “I will. Try not to make a mess of the kingdom huh?” Taemin pulled away and punched his brother in the arm. “I’ll probably run it better than you!”
Jonghyun laughed again before Doojoon led his horse over to him. Minho already mounted his horse and waited at the entrance to the forest path. Jonghyun got onto his horse and pulled at the reins.
“I promise I’ll return with the cure.” Taemin nodded and gave him a smile. Yoseob sidled up next to him quietly, whispering something about needed to return to the castle. They all bid good bye one last time before the pair turned to make their way back to the castle.
Jonghyun watched their retreating backs until they disappeared into the horizon. He turned towards Minho and nodded. Minho nudged the sides of his horse and led the way down the forest path.
--
It had been a while since Jonghyun came down this way. The last time he did, he was in a hurry to get to Anvilis and back again. The sunlight filtered through the canopy of leaves in jagged lines. The forest was quieter than usual, making the sounds of hooves and rolling wheels unusually loud.
They were going to make their way to the small town at the edge of the Known World. The barrier between the two worlds was nothing more than a wall of shimmering air, almost a looking glass into the different between the two words. Usually, nothing in the Unknown World tried to cross the barrier between them, and the same went for the inhabitants of the Known World. There was just something ominous about the way it went from bright and sunny to a sky that almost glowed red.
As soon as they made it out of the forest, Jonghyun shielded his eyes from the blinding sunlight that was once blocked by the forest. He glanced out over the vast valley in front of him, trying to make out the exit in the side. “At this rate, we’ll reach the outpost by sunset. We’ll sleep for the night, make sure everything is in order then make our way into the Unknown World.”
--
The following morning, the caravan stood at the border between the World. The border was created back in days of old. The Unknown World was originally a place for banishment, where the rulers of the Kingdoms of Old sent their most wicked, where they banished the monsters that plagued their people. The sorcerers of old were much more powerful than the sorcerers now. Magic was almost nonexistent in the present time, save for a few who could heal, and a few that wielded black magic.
Jonghyun held his map of the Unknown World that Taemin had supplied him. Most of the areas were blank, showing only the areas Explorer Yunho had discovered and recorded in his journal. “The closest outpost is hours away, in this direction.” His fingers traced the path as Minho watched over his shoulder. “I guess that’s where we’ll start. We can stop there and ask a few questions...”
“There are people that live in the Unknown World?” One of the men asked, perplexed. Jonghyun tucked the map into his armor and shook his head. “I wouldn’t exactly call them people. Just try not to make yourself look delicious.” He glanced back towards the barrier. Lucifer pawed the ground nervously. “It’s okay buddy.” He rubbed his neck before sitting back up.
“Everyone ready?” There was a murmur of agreement behind him. Jonghyun turned back to the barrier and took a deep breath, his heart beating in excitement and anxiety. He nudged Lucifer’s sides and rode straight through the barrier.
There was the sound of shattering glass as soon as he touch the barrier, and a rushing wind. The world around him blurred as he shielded his eyes, urging his horse forward. It felt like something was squeezing him until the wind suddenly stopped. He put his arm down and looked out at the expanse before him.
One by one, he heard the sounds of shattering glass as everyone emerged on the other side of the barrier. Minho rode out next to him, both of them scanning the area. Everything was suddenly bathed in an orange red glow. The sun beamed mercilessly on them, making everything scorching hot. The land in front of them was desert, dotted with the occasional large boulder and shrub, and large sinkholes.
There was a wooden sign that lay broken on the ground, faded letters written across the surface. Jonghyun dismounted Lucifer for a moment, leading him over to the edge of the desert, squatting down and squinting at the sign on the floor.
“Beware of... sand wyrm?” Jonghyun picked up the sign, dusting the sand off and blowing at it in hopes of making the smaller text legible. He squinted, trying to read the text. “Uh... Sire.” Jonghyun looked up across the great expanse before something caught his eye.
“What in the world...” He shielded his eyes from the sunlight with his hand. A way away in the distance, a sinkhole started to form, quite rapidly. Then suddenly, a large worm type thing with a circle of rotating razor sharp teeth burst from the sands, straight up into the air. Everyone flinched back a step as it landed on the ground, side-winding a few feet before burrowing back into the sand.
“Holy mother of Gods. That thing looks like it could eat something pretty damn big,” Jonghyun said with a look of apprehension on his face. Even under the glaring sun, he could see Minho turn a little bit pale. “I think we’ve been living too much of an easy life,” he said slowly. Jonghyun turned around to look at his men, all of them looking nervous and anxious.
“Regret your decision to come with me now?” All of them looked around at each other for a moment before shaking their heads. “Wherever you lead, Sire, we will follow.” Jonghyun smiled and returned his gaze back to the sign. He hit it a few times to knock off more sand and ended up breaking it even further.
Minho rolled his eyes from his horse. “Are you blind or something?” He hopped off of Beast and looked over Jonghyun’s shoulder as he held the sign back together. “Beware of sand wryms... Keep moving, don’t stand still... something about running if a sinkhole starts to form underneath your feet... and avoid making loud noises. Your script is worse than this, and you can read that but not this?” Jonghyun rolled his eyes and turned towards his men again.
“Hear that? Don’t stand still, run for your life if you start sinking into the sand, and be quiet.” The two of them returned to their horses and nudged them forward gently. The rest of the men followed quietly.
--
Minho took the rear, keeping his eyes peeled for the sand wyms. He and Jonghyun communicated silently through their hand signals every now and then. Jonghyun heard someone sneeze behind him and panicked slightly. His eyes darted all around, looking for any sign of sand wyrm. When he finally relaxed a little bit, he felt Lucifer stumble slightly. He glanced down to see a sink hole forming. Without even thinking, he shouted a warning.
“Sinkhole!”
“Sire!” Minho hissed from the back. More cries filled the air as every urged their horses to move faster.
And then they were everywhere.
One sand wyrm burst from the sand right in front of Jonghyun. His jaw dropped as it soared into the air above him. “HOLY MOTHER OF-”
“JONGHYUN, MOVE!” Minho shouted, directing his horse over to Jonghyun and giving Lucifer a good slap. Lucifer ducked to the side, whipping Jonghyun around on top of him, making him cling to the reins for dear life. The sand wyrm fell with a resounding quake where Jonghyun was staring at it like an idiot before wiggling a little bit and burrowing back under the sand.
Jonghyun rode beside the carriage while Minho led the way towards the outpost. They were popping up constantly behind them, everyone feeling the vibrations sent through the ground as they landed one after another. “Why are there so many of them?!” Jonghyun cried.
Another sand wyrm popped up in front of the carriage, causing the driver to swerve around it, tipping the carriage towards Jonghyun. It was going to fall. Jonghyun looked back and forth quickly before apologizing to his horse. “I’m sorry Lucifer, this might hurt a little bit.” He yanked on his reins, causing the horse to slam into the side of the carriage with enough force to make it fall back onto its wheels.
The horse neighed loudly, clearly indignant, or in pain. Jonghyun couldn’t tell. The sand wyrm fell with another quake behind Jonghyun, teeth coming dangerously close to him. Sand billowed up, stinging his eyes and blurring his vision while he inhaled a lungful of sand. He could barely make out the sight of the outpost at the end of the desert while coughing.
Then the next thing he knew, he was thrown off of Lucifer, sliding and rolling on the sand before finally coming to a stop with a groan. He heard Lucifer’s frantic cries, then felt something nudging at his chest. He couldn’t see, good god, why couldn’t he see. His hands were so full of sand, rubbing at them wouldn’t do any good.
“YOUR HIGHNESS!” He heard Minho yell from somewhere far off. Jonghyun groaned and struggled to push himself up off the ground. Then he started to sink. He struggled for dear life against the sand as Lucifer pawed the ground frantically trying to get him up before hurrying out of the sink hole. He felt fingers close around his arm and pull him forcefully out of the hole onto solid land. No, over a shoulder. He tried to open his eyes to see who it was, but it just made them sting even worse. What in the world was in this sand? He opened his mouth to say something but ended up coughing up sand instead.
His savior didn’t move, even when the sand wyrm burst from the sands in front of them. He held out his arm, saying a few words in a language Jonghyun didn’t recognize. Then there was no more noise. Opening one eye, he turned his head forcefully to see what was going on behind him. The sand wyrm was frozen in place. The man walked over to Lucifer and grabbed his reins before leading him the rest of the way to the outpost with Jonghyun over his shoulder, coughing his lungs out.
Minho and the others rushed the man as he laid their king down on the ground, turning back to the frozen sand wyrm. He uttered a single word, and the sand wyrm retreated back into the ground.
Jonghyun groaned as he heard clamoring above him. Too many people, all at once. Minho seemed to sense that and ordered the others to back off. He turned his attention to the man in all black. Despite the beating sun, he was wearing all black, a jacket fastened on the side with silver buttons. The collar covered his neck and had belts fastened in front. He wore an eye patch over one eye, but there were two straps, one going around his head, and one going across his face. His skin was pale white. He wore tight blank pants that disappeared into dusty black boots.
Minho watched him look Jonghyun over with his one eye before moving forward. People moved out of his way before he squatted down in front of Jonghyun. “It’s best we move him inside. He took quite the fall. I need to remove the sands from him before it rots his body.” He stood back up and started walking.
Minho handed his reins over to someone else and scooped up Jonghyun from the ground. “Ow, oh god, Minho?” Jonghyun rasped out.
“Yeah.”
“Could you be a little bit more gentle? I think I’ve broken every bone in my body.”
--
Everyone watched as Minho laid Jonghyun down on a bed. The mysterious man sat down next to him, waving one hand over his body, mumbling a few words. The sand lifted up off his body, flowing in a stream towards his fingers. Jonghyun coughed again as a stream of sand flowed from his mouth.
Everyone watched in amazement as the mysterious man dumped it onto the ground next to the bed inside of the shady inn. Jonghyun groaned before forcing himself to sit up. “I healed his internal injuries as well.” He blinked his one eye a few times before getting up and going for the door as everyone else gathered around Jonghyun.
Minho slipped out of the crowd for a moment and followed the man. “Thank you,” he said as they walked down the stairs. “It’s not every day people from the Known World come to visit us forsaken. You probably don’t understand exactly how difficult it is to survive in this world.” He walked behind the counter top and pick up a glass and a rag.
“How did you know we were coming?” The man started to clean the glass and looked out towards the desert. “When the glass shatters, someone has broken the barrier between the Worlds. And like I stated before, we don’t get many visitors.” Minho blinked a few times before he heard the door opening and closing behind him.
Jonghyun walked down the stairs slowly and met eyes with the man behind the counter. “Thank you for saving my life. What’s your name?”
The man grinned, putting the glass down. “Names are of little value here. But for addressing purposes, you can call me Onew.”
“I’m Jonghyun.”
“Prince Jonghyun,” Minho said from the stairs. Onew chuckled again. “It wouldn’t matter if he was a god himself. There are no laws here. It’s every thing for itself, because you know, not everything here is human.”
“Are you a sorcerer?”
“You could say that.” He poured some water into the glass and handed it to Jonghyun, who took it gratefully and drank it all in a few gulps.
“So,” Onew said leaning on the counter. “What brings a prince and his men to a World infested with things from your nightmares?”