A World Without - Chapter One
Name: A World Without
Fandom: SS501 (appearances by Super Junior)
Pairings: KyuMin, 2HJ, 2YS, friendship!KyuSaeng, friendship!MinSaeng
Total Word Count: 33, 000
Chapters: 1/7 + Epilogue
Rating: PG-16
Warnings: Post-Apocalyptic themes, violence
Genre: Adventure, Romance, and a bit of Crack stirred in
Prompt: "A kiss is a lovely trick, designed by nature, to stop words when speech becomes superfluous."
Summary: 40 years after humankind was deemed to have lost one chance too many, the world is still struggling to recover from the effects of the Last War. With humans now exist after being systematically wiped out, and the powerful Order overlooking all, it looked like they would finally be able live in peace. That was before a small caravan of Healers discover something in the ruins that will turn their views on atonement and suffering for the sins of the past upside down.
A/N: This is for my bestie forever, ziippers <3 Originally a one-shot, that idea kinda...died. I'm so sorry, it hardly even relates to the prompt or anything anymore @.@;;; Hope you still like it anyways? <3 /sheepish/ Updates will be every two days. Thank you to the always amazing curionenene for betaing, ILYBB~~~ <3333
"...Are you sure this is the right way?"
The horses pulling the caravan rolled to a stop. The man guiding them blinked, looking up at the night sky. "...Huh. I thought it was."
"...You mean we're lost, again?" cried out the younger man beside him, throwing his arms up in the air.
"I'm doing the best I can considering none of us have ever been this way before," protested the driver, rubbing his brown hair ruefully. "I must have turned right instead of left..."
Groaning, the younger man straightened and hopped off the bench at the front. "I don't want to wake him up...he gets testy when he isn't on the same clock as his plants."
"Then get JungMin to help you," suggested the driver.
"Are you kidding? He'll get us lost on purpose," replied the other man, though he kept his voice down when he said so in case the sleeping griffin on top of the caravan heard them.
"True," mused their driver. "Alright, wake Saengie up."
Giving a long-suffering sigh, the young man stumbled to the caravan door and pushed open the blanket that served as the door. "YoungSaeng hyung, sorry to wake you up...but HyunJoong hyung got us lost. Again."
There was slight movement from inside the caravan, and a young man sat up slowly. "Again?" The soft voice was sleepy. "That's the third time this week...I'll be out in a minute." YoungSaeng moved around in the caravan, the rustle of plants moving around him audible until the man outside the caravan let the blanket fall back into place.
"Again?" echoed a teasing voice from above.
"Shut up JungMin and give us an aerial view," grumbled the youngest as he climbed back onto the bench next to HyunJoong. Something snapped next to his head and he shrieked. "And stop trying to bite my head off!"
"Then stop trying to order me around, Joonie," the griffin told him, snapping his beak again.
"Min ah, could you please? The trees can only tell me so much." YoungSaeng stepped out of the caravan, smoothing his traveller's cloaking and looking around the ruefully. "Especially when they're asleep." His eyes shone a deep emerald in the darkness, thin plant tendrils twined into his black hair and moving. Green patterns moved under the skin of his arms and hands like living tattoos, miniature gardens.
"Sure." JungMin got to his feet and spread his wings, the caravan shaking as the griffin launched himself into the air, soaring over the forest like a silent shadow.
"How is it I ask him to do something and he never listens, and when you ask he does it without complaint?" HyungJoon grumbled.
"Griffins have selective hearing," HyunJoong chuckled.
YoungSaeng smiled tiredly, seeming very out of it. No matter how much has changed since the Last War, no hamadryad liked being awake while their tree was asleep...and YoungSaeng's small, potted maple hidden inside the caravan was very much asleep.
Nothing has really been the same since the Last War and the end of humankind. Humans had a history of always pushing too far, always testing the limits. In the past, the rest of the world had watched with worry as war after war started and ended, the humans managing somehow to settle issues amongst themselves.
But they had finally gone too far...and they had needed to be put down.
The images of the horizon going up in flames 40 years ago was ingrained in each of their memories. It was then when elves, dragons, sprites, mermen and gnomes alike all looked at each other and decided it was enough. Gathering all their strength, they rose above the chaos and erased all threat of humanity from the fact of the Earth.
No one had wanted to do it. Humankind had been like a child to them...stumbling along, but gradually finding their way. But there was only so much that the Earth could take. They couldn't allow everything to burn. Even now, the destruction was obvious. Many areas of the Earth's surface were scorched bare, human cities nothing more than twisted ruins.
Everything had been in disarray after the war was over. The races who lived in seclusion couldn't return to their homes, so many of the locations inhabitable now. Those who lived in human cities, masquerading as humans, found themselves with no guidelines nor government. Slowly the races began setting up their own forms of government, starting the New Order. Times seemed to reverse, almost returning to the medieval era. It was best this way.
The first few years had been the hardest. Not only because of the instability, races clamouring for whatever resources were left, and families struggling to find their identities away from the carnage humans had unleashed upon themselves. Those weren't the hardest parts.
What was hardest was, in those first years of the New Order, there had been small groups of human survivors...and they had been forced to kill them all off. Mankind had been given its chance; too many chances. They had forgotten they weren't the sole creatures on this planet, that everything they did effected everyone else. And they couldn't be allowed to spread and ruin the world again.
But 40 years later, it was over. The Scouts, an organization of mixed races in charge of erasing the last of humankind, had been disbanded. The world had set its sights on recovery instead.
And so, here they were; a small band of mixed races who went by the collective name of the Healers, traveling from area to area and helping the land grow again. JungMin and HyunJoong were former Scouts looking to do something other than be mercenaries for the New Order. There were hardly any griffins left, and HyunJoong's skills as a drow came in handy (whenever he wasn't getting them lost).
YoungSaeng was a young hamadryad who couldn't bear to remain in his forest and watch the world burn around him, so he'd potted the tree his life was tied to while it was still young and left. And HyungJoon was one of the few half-humans left, the other half of his blood tied to the shadowfolk. It was this half that had saved him from the same fate as the humans, though he was still mistreated at times for his obvious heritage.
And now they were heading into the biggest dead zone in what used to be South Korea, to coax life back into the damaged land.
HyunJoong watched with sharp eyes as YoungSaeng walked to the closest tree, his steps uncertain and a little clumsy thanks to the fact he wasn't really supposed to be awake now. They tried to avoid messing up his internal clock because the usually pleasant hamadryad became more than a little tempermental otherwise.
Stopping under the tree, YoungSaeng reached up with his arms. Slowly the flexible branches of the willow tree moved, curling around his forearms and joining him to the tree.
HyungJoon sighed and leaned back in the bench, arms behind his head. Now they waited for either YoungSaeng or JungMin to come back with an answer. He hoped between the land and the sky they would be able to put them back on course towards the dead zone.
YoungSaeng returned to them first, slowly lowering his arms as the tree released him. "We're not that far away," he said, staggering back over to the caravan. "They say there's a place where they can't lay down their roots properly, where any plant that tries to grow will die shortly after."
A shadow circled overhead and there was a thud as JungMin landed behind him, wings folding up on his back. The horses didn't even twitch, used to his comings and goings. "I can see it from the air. It's over there." He pointed with one paw through the trees, and YoungSaeng nodded in agreement. "We should be able to make it by sunrise."
"Then you three should catch whatever sleep you can," HyunJoong said firmly. Drows didn't require sleep as much (though when he did sleep, good luck waking him up).
"Don't get us lost again," YoungSaeng chuckled, wandering back into the caravan with HyungJoon right after him. The whole structure shook as JungMin resumed his perch on top of it, curling up with one wing over his head.
HyunJoong watched the griffin settle down for the rest of the night and sighed softly, facing the front again and ushering the horses to continue with a light clicking of his tongue. Whips were for humans only.
In some ways, it was sad that so many lives had to be cut off. Some of the survivors he and JungMin had run into as Scouts were whole families, many with children. But there hadn't been a choice. Humans were like cockroaches...leave them, and they would multiply, and start over. Their pathetically short life span were offset by a high reproduction rate. It wouldn't take any time at all for them to swarm the world once more, and the process would begin again.
Even so, the drow's eyes dimmed slightly as he remembered two young siblings curled up in the corner of the destroyed hut, the older brother standing protectively in front of his crying sister and staring up at him with as much defiance as his twelve-year-old body could muster.
He wished they could have spared the children at least.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, HyunJoong clicked his tongue lightly to keep the horses on course and settled in for a long ride.
*********************
As JungMin had guessed, they reached the dead zone as the first rays of the sun peeked over the horizon. HyunJoong drew the caravan to a halt, the lack of movement waking up the griffin.
"It's massive," HyunJoong murmured, eyes scanning the twisted shells of crumbled buildings that stretched as far as his elven eyes could see.
"It's even bigger from the air," JungMin remarked. "Stretches all the way to the coast. Isn't this where the capital used to be?" Like most griffins, JungMin had resided in the mountains far away from human influence, and was unfamiliar with the cities. Even his grasp on the rapidly dying language of Hangul was basic. The rest of the world had reverted back to Latin, a language known through all the races. Humans used to know Latin as well, but they had forgotten.
"Seoul," HyunJoong nodded. "And Incheon at the coast." He eyed the ruins and sighed. "This will be tricky."
It was clear the forest had tried to reclaim the land, vines and roots breaking through the outer ruins. But it had stopped, any plant that moved too close dying within days.
HyunJoong waited for the sun to rise a little more above the horizon before leaning back, knocking on the wood of the caravan. "Rise and shine, both of you. We have work to do."
YoungSaeng hopped out first, looking infinitely better now that it was day. In his arms he carried the small pot with his miniature tree inside. They worked to keep the tree at a transportable size, because as soon as it was too large to move YoungSaeng would have no choice but to stay in that spot for the rest of his life. He couldn't move too far from the tree without falling ill and dying.
"I'll settle down in a forest eventually," he had told them when they asked. "But not now. Not while the world is like this. So few of my kin have the option of making a difference, I won't let my chance go to waste."
HyungJoon slipped out behind him, trailing shadows after him for a moment until the sunlight chased them away. He rubbed his eyes and stopped when he saw the ruins. "Woah."
YoungSaeng winced, slowly setting his tree down. "This...doesn't look good."
"What do you mean, Saeng?" HyunJoong asked, looking at him. Sure it was larger than anything they've seen before, but they could still help life back into the place.
The hamadryad walked to the edge of the vegetation, swallowing thickly as he crouched to examine the roots. Touching gentle fingers to them, he drew in a sharp breath. HyunJoong watched in surprise as the miniature gardens under the other man's skin started to wilt and die before YoungSaeng snatched his hand back.
"This place...it's poison."
The other's exchanged glances. "How so?" HyunJoong asked.
"It must have been the bombings," JungMin suggested. YoungSaeng started to nod.
"Bombings?" HyungJoon asked in confusion. He had been born after the Last War, his mother mating with a human before he had been erased along with the rest of them.
HyunJoong sighed and settled down for yet another history lesson. "When the Last War started, it started with nuclear bombs. Humans brought them down on many of their powerful cities, reducing them to dust and leaving everything radioactive. Seoul and Incheon must have been two of their targets."
"How could someone cause such destruction?" YoungSaeng asked quietly, fingers curling into the infertile soil and watching it drop back to the earth.
"Because they were barbarians, that's how," JungMin hissed, feathers ruffling in anger. "Filthy, powerhungry cockroaches..."
HyunJoong watched HyungJoon's gaze fall to the ground, and thwacked JungMin off the beak. "Be nice," he whispered. HyungJoon had gone through enough torment without them pointing out the insanity that was half his bloodline.
JungMin looked at HyungJoon and calmed down a little, feathers lying flat again. "Anyways...what can we do here if the whole place is poison?" the griffin asked, changing topics.
The others looked at each other uneasily. They wouldn't even be able to go farther inside and see if they could find non-radioactive patches to start growing plants. That was YoungSaeng's area of expertise, and if his tree went in there it would surely wilt and die, killing the hamadryad along with it.
"We can travel around the edge of it," HyunJoong said slowly. "Map out just how far this reaches and bring it back to the Order for them to deal with. Radioactivity isn't something we can work around until they do something about it."
"Which will probably take another half a century," JungMin snorted. The New Order had too much to handle to worry about one radioactive patch in hundreds.
"Either way, that's the best plan we have," YoungSaeng said quietly.
"Will your tree be able to handle being so close to this stuff, hyung?" HyungJoon asked.
YoungSaeng hesitated. "If HyunJoong helps me spell the caravan, it should be able to handle the radioactivity as long as it stays inside."
"We'll set that up before we continue," HyunJoong nodded. "But if you start feeling ill, let us know right away," he said sternly. YoungSaeng smiled and nodded.
"I'll take a look from the sky again," JungMin said, standing and leaping into the air, the gust of wind nearly knocking HyungJoon onto his rear.
"...I suppose I'll take the shadows then, before the sun gets too high," HyungJoon sighed. He couldn't help but be curious about the place the humans used to live in, and it wasn't as if they would be able to go anywhere until the caravan was spelled.
"Go ahead," HyunJoong said, stretching. "Don't stay in there too long or you'll get radiation poisoning." He watched their youngest run into the ruins and vanish into the shadows before turning his attention to the caravan. "Let's see...I think I know a spell that might do the trick."
YoungSaeng picked up his tree, cradling the pot protectively. "Let's get it over with then."
*********************
The dead zone was larger than any of them could have imagined. Three days into their travel and they hadn't even begun to reach the coast. They all watched YoungSaeng and his tree for any signs of illness, but the spells seemed to be doing their job. Eventually YoungSaeng grew fed up of the constant watch and threatened to tie JungMin's wings shut with vines if the griffin didn't let him change in peace.
"Min ah, how far are we from the coast?" YoungSaeng asked from his perch on top of the caravan that afternoon, the griffin landing next to them after scanning the horizon.
"I'd say another two days at least. What are we gonna do when we get there though? It looks like the dead zone goes right to the shore, there's no safe place for us to cross to the other side."
He had a point. HyunJoong and YoungSaeng looked at each other. "How long would it take to cross?" HyunJoong asked after a moment.
"What am I, a measuring stick? I'm guessing a day and a half, but it's far away so I can't tell." JungMin ruffled his feathers and snapped at HyunJoong with his beak when the drow teasingly flicked his tail.
"Thanks Min ah." YoungSaeng smiled to ease the disgruntled griffin. No griffin took orders too well, prideful creatures, but JungMin put up with the blow to his ego when YoungSaeng was the one to ask.
They had started moving again when HyungJoon, who had been off exploring the ruins they traveled alongside again, suddenly burst out of the shadows beside them. "Hyungdeul!"
HyunJoong stopped the horses with a loud click and whistle at the frantic note to the other man's voice. "What's wrong?" The half-human, half-shadowfolk's face was paler than normal, the chalky color in sharp contrast to the darkness that swirled around his form before disappearing.
"There's...there's someone in there!"
Even JungMin stopped fidgetting at that. "What? Are you serious?"
YoungSaeng stared out at the ruins. "But the place is poison...nothing could stand that level of radioactivity."
"Maybe that was why he was passed out underneath something?" HyungJoon asked, then yelped as JungMin swatted at him with one large paw.
"And you just left him there?!"
"Like I said, he was underneath something and I couldn't get him out!" HyungJoon protested, avoiding the griffin.
They all looked to HyunJoong as the leader, the drow staring out into the ruins with a frown on his lips. "...Well, we can't just leave him in there. If he can't move, the radioactivity in this place will kill him before long." He looked back at YoungSaeng.
The hamadryad nodded and sighed. "I'll stay here with the caravan and horses." He wouldn't be able to go far from his tree, and they couldn't bring the caravan straight into the ruins.
Nodding, HyunJoong stood. "Show us where he is then, and no shadow walking this time." He followed HyungJoon into the ruins, JungMin looking back at YoungSaeng before spreading his wings and taking to the air again. YoungSaeng watched them go until the only one he could see was JungMin circling overhead.
The ruins closed in around them, HyunJoong feeling the effect the radioactivity was having on his breathing. They stayed on whatever paths remained for the most part, until HyungJoon led them through the mangled ruins of a building. Why would anyone come in here? It was death...pure death.
"How much farther?" he asked after a few minutes.
"Just about there," HyungJoon called back, clambering over the twisted steel structure that HyunJoong recognized faintly as a car. The drow wondered if there were still bodies in the ruins...40 years wasn't enough to turn the bones to dust.
Then he spotted the charred outline of a hand clutching the car door, and bit back the taste of bile as he directed his attention elsewhere.
"Here we go," HyungJoon panted as they reached the other side of the tangled mess of cars. A truck had flipped over and one of the back doors fallen off. The younger man led him to that door, the metal lying in the ash.
It must have fallen off very recently...because there was someone trapped underneath it.
"Sir?" HyungJoon tried, crouching down. "Sir, can you hear me?"
There was no response from the man, so he was probably unconscious. Or dead. How long could someone survive like this? "Joon ah, you better not have brought us to a corpse," HyunJoong said as he waved JungMin down from the sky.
"He was coughing before as I walked by," HyungJoon said, frowning.
JungMin landed beside them, folding his wings. "Well, let's get this thing off him."
The three of them braced themselves against the heavy piece of metal, and together they lifted it enough for JungMin to get underneath and hold it up by himself. HyunJoong pulled the limp young man out from underneath it before the griffin let the truck door fall back to the ground with a thud.
He was breathing, which was always a good sign...though his heartbeat was too low for HyunJoong's liking and he was obviously sick. Radioactive poisoning for sure.
Something seemed...off about him...but his health was what concerned them the most right now.
"YoungSaeng will be able to take care of him," HyunJoong said after a quick examination. "JungMin, can you bring him back? The faster he breathes in clean air, the better."
The griffin grumbled something about being used as a carrier pigeon but crouched down so they could lift the stranger onto his back between his wings. HyunJoong made sure none of the man's limbs would mess up JungMin's flight before binding him in place with a quick spell. "You're all set. We'll see you back at the caravan."
JungMin took to the air, needing a bit of a running start to get the wind under his wings this time. Adjusting quickly to the added weight, he circled around and headed back towards YoungSaeng.
The hamadryad looked up as he spotted JungMin in the air again, hopping off the caravan to meet him as the griffin landed.
"HyunJoong said you'll be able to look after him," JungMin said as he crouched again. YoungSaeng released the spell binding the young man to JungMin's back and carefully pulled him off and lowered him to the ground.
Frowning, YoungSaeng took in the sickly palour of the other man, checking his temperature. "We need to get him into the caravan. I'll have to draw strength from my plants to pull the poison out of him."
Together they got the stranger inside the caravan, JungMin poking his head in through the doorway to watch YoungSaeng settle down beside the other man's head.
"Can you keep the others out for a bit, Min ah?" YoungSaeng murmured as he started to sink into a trance. "I need quiet." The griffin nodded and disappeared.
HyunJoong and HyungJoon returned ten minutes later to find JungMin curled up outside the caravan door.
"Is YoungSaeng inside?" the drow asked. JungMin nodded his head, putting one paw in front of his beak as if telling them to be quiet. HyungJoon snorted a little at the sight and JungMin swiped at him.
The afternoon was half over before YoungSaeng's voice floated out to them. "He'll be bedridden for a while...but he'll live." The group let out a collective sigh of relief.
HyunJoong and HyungJoon climbed into the caravan, avoiding jostling any of the plants that took up the inside. YoungSaeng needed his miniature garden around in case they traveled across barren land, the hamadryad uncomfortable or downright sickly without them. Right now, YoungSaeng was sitting next to the strange man, gently stroking the leaves of one of his plants. It was brown and wilted, dead.
"You needed that much energy to heal him?" HyunJoong murmured.
YoungSaeng nodded and wiped the traces of tears from his face, sniffing a little. "He must have been in there for a while...I could only pull out enough of the radioactivity that it wouldn't be lethal to him, and his body is malnourished and dehydrated. It will be a while before he can recover properly."
JungMin poked his head inside the caravan again, obviously curious. "Min ah, here's some clothes," YoungSaeng said, grabbing the traveler's outfit and tossing them to the door. "Get in here, it's easier than looking from outside."
The griffin picked up the clothes with his beak and disappeared outside. It said something for how curious he was that he wasn't protesting the need to take up his human form. Like most four-legged races, griffins found it highly uncomfortable to masquerade as a human.
A minute later JungMin entered the caravan, the only sign of his griffin self being his gold eyes and copper hair as the young man settled down beside YoungSaeng. Seeing the dead plant the hamadryad held tightly, he sighed and took it away carefully, placing it aside before wrapping one arm around the other man's waist. YoungSaeng leaned into him thankfully as they looked down at the unconscious man.
He was pale, messy black hair unkept and falling all over the place. His breathing had evened out somewhat, heartrate steadying.
"So any idea what he could have been doing in there?" YoungSaeng asked after a long pause.
HyunJoong shook his head. "The place is a toxic graveyard...I don't see anything that could have been of value in there aside from the metal, and even that would take strong spells to remove the radioactivity from."
"What is he, anyways?" HyungJoon asked, peering at him. "Nothing too strong apparently, or he would have gotten himself out from under that piece of metal."
JungMin looked down at him, and poked his head slightly to one side to check his ears. "No points, so elven's out." He was cute, but what a generic appearance...there were no racial marks visible at all. "Shadowfolk?"
"Shadowfolk would have gotten out of that situation easily," HyungJoon said, shaking his head.
"...Then..." HyunJoong thought carefully. "Is he a sprite?"
"Doesn't seem like it," YoungSaeng eyed him. "His spiritual energy is too low."
"Can we get a look at his eyes maybe?" JungMin started to reach out, and YoungSaeng slapped his hands away.
"You are not prying the poor guy's eyes open while he's unconscious."
A soft moan drew their attention down to the stranger again. He coughed a little, then slowly opened his eyes, blinking up at them.
"Hey," HyunJoong said, a little relieved to see the man was awake. His eyes, now that they could see them, were a soft brown...again nothing helpful. But now that the stranger himself was awake, that wouldn't be a problem. "How are you feeling?"
"...What?"
All four of them froze at the croaked question. That wasn't Latin, or any of their own mother tongues. Even so, they knew it regardless...and wished they didn't.
It was Hangul.
Figuring it to be just a reflex while half-asleep, YoungSaeng continued in quiet Latin. "Do you remember anything? You were found inside the ruins."
The man's eyes went to the hamadryad, and widened ever so slightly as he took in the green tendrils in YoungSaeng's hair and the garden under his skin.
"I...I'm sorry, what?" the man repeated in Hangul, then started to cough. HyungJoon scrambled for water.
Once the man was helped into a sitting position and drinking the offered water, HyunJoong bit his lower lip before speaking up again, this time in Hangul that he hadn't needed to use in years. "Could you...understand us?"
The stranger perked up slightly. "Now I can," he coughed a little, hands shaking. "I...I'm sorry...but where am I?"
"You're in our...house," HyungJoon piped up, needing to think a moment to form the words properly. Hangul had already started fading away when he was born, so he knew it even less than the other three.
"Caravan," corrected YoungSaeng, exchanging a worried look with HyunJoong. If this man only knew Hangul...
JungMin, who had been silent since the conversation in Hangul started, got to his feet suddenly. Before the other's could stop him, he was in front of the stranger and grabbing the collar of his shirt.
"Min," protested YoungSaeng, but fell silent at the dark glow in the griffin's eyes. The unknown man just stared at him, barely holding on to the water in his hands.
The griffin searched his eyes carefully. "I don't believe it..." he trailed off in Latin. Then he suddenly shoved the man away from him, getting up and backing away.
"JungMin, what's wrong?" HyunJoong asked, though he had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"He's not shadowfolk, sprite or even elementalist," JungMin hissed, hands curled into fists. "He's human!"
******************************
If there is any confusion over the different races, the following pages may help:
Hamadryad | Shadow folk | Drow | Griffin
Fandom: SS501 (appearances by Super Junior)
Pairings: KyuMin, 2HJ, 2YS, friendship!KyuSaeng, friendship!MinSaeng
Total Word Count: 33, 000
Chapters: 1/7 + Epilogue
Rating: PG-16
Warnings: Post-Apocalyptic themes, violence
Genre: Adventure, Romance, and a bit of Crack stirred in
Prompt: "A kiss is a lovely trick, designed by nature, to stop words when speech becomes superfluous."
Summary: 40 years after humankind was deemed to have lost one chance too many, the world is still struggling to recover from the effects of the Last War. With humans now exist after being systematically wiped out, and the powerful Order overlooking all, it looked like they would finally be able live in peace. That was before a small caravan of Healers discover something in the ruins that will turn their views on atonement and suffering for the sins of the past upside down.
A/N: This is for my bestie forever, ziippers <3 Originally a one-shot, that idea kinda...died. I'm so sorry, it hardly even relates to the prompt or anything anymore @.@;;; Hope you still like it anyways? <3 /sheepish/ Updates will be every two days. Thank you to the always amazing curionenene for betaing, ILYBB~~~ <3333
"...Are you sure this is the right way?"
The horses pulling the caravan rolled to a stop. The man guiding them blinked, looking up at the night sky. "...Huh. I thought it was."
"...You mean we're lost, again?" cried out the younger man beside him, throwing his arms up in the air.
"I'm doing the best I can considering none of us have ever been this way before," protested the driver, rubbing his brown hair ruefully. "I must have turned right instead of left..."
Groaning, the younger man straightened and hopped off the bench at the front. "I don't want to wake him up...he gets testy when he isn't on the same clock as his plants."
"Then get JungMin to help you," suggested the driver.
"Are you kidding? He'll get us lost on purpose," replied the other man, though he kept his voice down when he said so in case the sleeping griffin on top of the caravan heard them.
"True," mused their driver. "Alright, wake Saengie up."
Giving a long-suffering sigh, the young man stumbled to the caravan door and pushed open the blanket that served as the door. "YoungSaeng hyung, sorry to wake you up...but HyunJoong hyung got us lost. Again."
There was slight movement from inside the caravan, and a young man sat up slowly. "Again?" The soft voice was sleepy. "That's the third time this week...I'll be out in a minute." YoungSaeng moved around in the caravan, the rustle of plants moving around him audible until the man outside the caravan let the blanket fall back into place.
"Again?" echoed a teasing voice from above.
"Shut up JungMin and give us an aerial view," grumbled the youngest as he climbed back onto the bench next to HyunJoong. Something snapped next to his head and he shrieked. "And stop trying to bite my head off!"
"Then stop trying to order me around, Joonie," the griffin told him, snapping his beak again.
"Min ah, could you please? The trees can only tell me so much." YoungSaeng stepped out of the caravan, smoothing his traveller's cloaking and looking around the ruefully. "Especially when they're asleep." His eyes shone a deep emerald in the darkness, thin plant tendrils twined into his black hair and moving. Green patterns moved under the skin of his arms and hands like living tattoos, miniature gardens.
"Sure." JungMin got to his feet and spread his wings, the caravan shaking as the griffin launched himself into the air, soaring over the forest like a silent shadow.
"How is it I ask him to do something and he never listens, and when you ask he does it without complaint?" HyungJoon grumbled.
"Griffins have selective hearing," HyunJoong chuckled.
YoungSaeng smiled tiredly, seeming very out of it. No matter how much has changed since the Last War, no hamadryad liked being awake while their tree was asleep...and YoungSaeng's small, potted maple hidden inside the caravan was very much asleep.
Nothing has really been the same since the Last War and the end of humankind. Humans had a history of always pushing too far, always testing the limits. In the past, the rest of the world had watched with worry as war after war started and ended, the humans managing somehow to settle issues amongst themselves.
But they had finally gone too far...and they had needed to be put down.
The images of the horizon going up in flames 40 years ago was ingrained in each of their memories. It was then when elves, dragons, sprites, mermen and gnomes alike all looked at each other and decided it was enough. Gathering all their strength, they rose above the chaos and erased all threat of humanity from the fact of the Earth.
No one had wanted to do it. Humankind had been like a child to them...stumbling along, but gradually finding their way. But there was only so much that the Earth could take. They couldn't allow everything to burn. Even now, the destruction was obvious. Many areas of the Earth's surface were scorched bare, human cities nothing more than twisted ruins.
Everything had been in disarray after the war was over. The races who lived in seclusion couldn't return to their homes, so many of the locations inhabitable now. Those who lived in human cities, masquerading as humans, found themselves with no guidelines nor government. Slowly the races began setting up their own forms of government, starting the New Order. Times seemed to reverse, almost returning to the medieval era. It was best this way.
The first few years had been the hardest. Not only because of the instability, races clamouring for whatever resources were left, and families struggling to find their identities away from the carnage humans had unleashed upon themselves. Those weren't the hardest parts.
What was hardest was, in those first years of the New Order, there had been small groups of human survivors...and they had been forced to kill them all off. Mankind had been given its chance; too many chances. They had forgotten they weren't the sole creatures on this planet, that everything they did effected everyone else. And they couldn't be allowed to spread and ruin the world again.
But 40 years later, it was over. The Scouts, an organization of mixed races in charge of erasing the last of humankind, had been disbanded. The world had set its sights on recovery instead.
And so, here they were; a small band of mixed races who went by the collective name of the Healers, traveling from area to area and helping the land grow again. JungMin and HyunJoong were former Scouts looking to do something other than be mercenaries for the New Order. There were hardly any griffins left, and HyunJoong's skills as a drow came in handy (whenever he wasn't getting them lost).
YoungSaeng was a young hamadryad who couldn't bear to remain in his forest and watch the world burn around him, so he'd potted the tree his life was tied to while it was still young and left. And HyungJoon was one of the few half-humans left, the other half of his blood tied to the shadowfolk. It was this half that had saved him from the same fate as the humans, though he was still mistreated at times for his obvious heritage.
And now they were heading into the biggest dead zone in what used to be South Korea, to coax life back into the damaged land.
HyunJoong watched with sharp eyes as YoungSaeng walked to the closest tree, his steps uncertain and a little clumsy thanks to the fact he wasn't really supposed to be awake now. They tried to avoid messing up his internal clock because the usually pleasant hamadryad became more than a little tempermental otherwise.
Stopping under the tree, YoungSaeng reached up with his arms. Slowly the flexible branches of the willow tree moved, curling around his forearms and joining him to the tree.
HyungJoon sighed and leaned back in the bench, arms behind his head. Now they waited for either YoungSaeng or JungMin to come back with an answer. He hoped between the land and the sky they would be able to put them back on course towards the dead zone.
YoungSaeng returned to them first, slowly lowering his arms as the tree released him. "We're not that far away," he said, staggering back over to the caravan. "They say there's a place where they can't lay down their roots properly, where any plant that tries to grow will die shortly after."
A shadow circled overhead and there was a thud as JungMin landed behind him, wings folding up on his back. The horses didn't even twitch, used to his comings and goings. "I can see it from the air. It's over there." He pointed with one paw through the trees, and YoungSaeng nodded in agreement. "We should be able to make it by sunrise."
"Then you three should catch whatever sleep you can," HyunJoong said firmly. Drows didn't require sleep as much (though when he did sleep, good luck waking him up).
"Don't get us lost again," YoungSaeng chuckled, wandering back into the caravan with HyungJoon right after him. The whole structure shook as JungMin resumed his perch on top of it, curling up with one wing over his head.
HyunJoong watched the griffin settle down for the rest of the night and sighed softly, facing the front again and ushering the horses to continue with a light clicking of his tongue. Whips were for humans only.
In some ways, it was sad that so many lives had to be cut off. Some of the survivors he and JungMin had run into as Scouts were whole families, many with children. But there hadn't been a choice. Humans were like cockroaches...leave them, and they would multiply, and start over. Their pathetically short life span were offset by a high reproduction rate. It wouldn't take any time at all for them to swarm the world once more, and the process would begin again.
Even so, the drow's eyes dimmed slightly as he remembered two young siblings curled up in the corner of the destroyed hut, the older brother standing protectively in front of his crying sister and staring up at him with as much defiance as his twelve-year-old body could muster.
He wished they could have spared the children at least.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, HyunJoong clicked his tongue lightly to keep the horses on course and settled in for a long ride.
*********************
As JungMin had guessed, they reached the dead zone as the first rays of the sun peeked over the horizon. HyunJoong drew the caravan to a halt, the lack of movement waking up the griffin.
"It's massive," HyunJoong murmured, eyes scanning the twisted shells of crumbled buildings that stretched as far as his elven eyes could see.
"It's even bigger from the air," JungMin remarked. "Stretches all the way to the coast. Isn't this where the capital used to be?" Like most griffins, JungMin had resided in the mountains far away from human influence, and was unfamiliar with the cities. Even his grasp on the rapidly dying language of Hangul was basic. The rest of the world had reverted back to Latin, a language known through all the races. Humans used to know Latin as well, but they had forgotten.
"Seoul," HyunJoong nodded. "And Incheon at the coast." He eyed the ruins and sighed. "This will be tricky."
It was clear the forest had tried to reclaim the land, vines and roots breaking through the outer ruins. But it had stopped, any plant that moved too close dying within days.
HyunJoong waited for the sun to rise a little more above the horizon before leaning back, knocking on the wood of the caravan. "Rise and shine, both of you. We have work to do."
YoungSaeng hopped out first, looking infinitely better now that it was day. In his arms he carried the small pot with his miniature tree inside. They worked to keep the tree at a transportable size, because as soon as it was too large to move YoungSaeng would have no choice but to stay in that spot for the rest of his life. He couldn't move too far from the tree without falling ill and dying.
"I'll settle down in a forest eventually," he had told them when they asked. "But not now. Not while the world is like this. So few of my kin have the option of making a difference, I won't let my chance go to waste."
HyungJoon slipped out behind him, trailing shadows after him for a moment until the sunlight chased them away. He rubbed his eyes and stopped when he saw the ruins. "Woah."
YoungSaeng winced, slowly setting his tree down. "This...doesn't look good."
"What do you mean, Saeng?" HyunJoong asked, looking at him. Sure it was larger than anything they've seen before, but they could still help life back into the place.
The hamadryad walked to the edge of the vegetation, swallowing thickly as he crouched to examine the roots. Touching gentle fingers to them, he drew in a sharp breath. HyunJoong watched in surprise as the miniature gardens under the other man's skin started to wilt and die before YoungSaeng snatched his hand back.
"This place...it's poison."
The other's exchanged glances. "How so?" HyunJoong asked.
"It must have been the bombings," JungMin suggested. YoungSaeng started to nod.
"Bombings?" HyungJoon asked in confusion. He had been born after the Last War, his mother mating with a human before he had been erased along with the rest of them.
HyunJoong sighed and settled down for yet another history lesson. "When the Last War started, it started with nuclear bombs. Humans brought them down on many of their powerful cities, reducing them to dust and leaving everything radioactive. Seoul and Incheon must have been two of their targets."
"How could someone cause such destruction?" YoungSaeng asked quietly, fingers curling into the infertile soil and watching it drop back to the earth.
"Because they were barbarians, that's how," JungMin hissed, feathers ruffling in anger. "Filthy, powerhungry cockroaches..."
HyunJoong watched HyungJoon's gaze fall to the ground, and thwacked JungMin off the beak. "Be nice," he whispered. HyungJoon had gone through enough torment without them pointing out the insanity that was half his bloodline.
JungMin looked at HyungJoon and calmed down a little, feathers lying flat again. "Anyways...what can we do here if the whole place is poison?" the griffin asked, changing topics.
The others looked at each other uneasily. They wouldn't even be able to go farther inside and see if they could find non-radioactive patches to start growing plants. That was YoungSaeng's area of expertise, and if his tree went in there it would surely wilt and die, killing the hamadryad along with it.
"We can travel around the edge of it," HyunJoong said slowly. "Map out just how far this reaches and bring it back to the Order for them to deal with. Radioactivity isn't something we can work around until they do something about it."
"Which will probably take another half a century," JungMin snorted. The New Order had too much to handle to worry about one radioactive patch in hundreds.
"Either way, that's the best plan we have," YoungSaeng said quietly.
"Will your tree be able to handle being so close to this stuff, hyung?" HyungJoon asked.
YoungSaeng hesitated. "If HyunJoong helps me spell the caravan, it should be able to handle the radioactivity as long as it stays inside."
"We'll set that up before we continue," HyunJoong nodded. "But if you start feeling ill, let us know right away," he said sternly. YoungSaeng smiled and nodded.
"I'll take a look from the sky again," JungMin said, standing and leaping into the air, the gust of wind nearly knocking HyungJoon onto his rear.
"...I suppose I'll take the shadows then, before the sun gets too high," HyungJoon sighed. He couldn't help but be curious about the place the humans used to live in, and it wasn't as if they would be able to go anywhere until the caravan was spelled.
"Go ahead," HyunJoong said, stretching. "Don't stay in there too long or you'll get radiation poisoning." He watched their youngest run into the ruins and vanish into the shadows before turning his attention to the caravan. "Let's see...I think I know a spell that might do the trick."
YoungSaeng picked up his tree, cradling the pot protectively. "Let's get it over with then."
*********************
The dead zone was larger than any of them could have imagined. Three days into their travel and they hadn't even begun to reach the coast. They all watched YoungSaeng and his tree for any signs of illness, but the spells seemed to be doing their job. Eventually YoungSaeng grew fed up of the constant watch and threatened to tie JungMin's wings shut with vines if the griffin didn't let him change in peace.
"Min ah, how far are we from the coast?" YoungSaeng asked from his perch on top of the caravan that afternoon, the griffin landing next to them after scanning the horizon.
"I'd say another two days at least. What are we gonna do when we get there though? It looks like the dead zone goes right to the shore, there's no safe place for us to cross to the other side."
He had a point. HyunJoong and YoungSaeng looked at each other. "How long would it take to cross?" HyunJoong asked after a moment.
"What am I, a measuring stick? I'm guessing a day and a half, but it's far away so I can't tell." JungMin ruffled his feathers and snapped at HyunJoong with his beak when the drow teasingly flicked his tail.
"Thanks Min ah." YoungSaeng smiled to ease the disgruntled griffin. No griffin took orders too well, prideful creatures, but JungMin put up with the blow to his ego when YoungSaeng was the one to ask.
They had started moving again when HyungJoon, who had been off exploring the ruins they traveled alongside again, suddenly burst out of the shadows beside them. "Hyungdeul!"
HyunJoong stopped the horses with a loud click and whistle at the frantic note to the other man's voice. "What's wrong?" The half-human, half-shadowfolk's face was paler than normal, the chalky color in sharp contrast to the darkness that swirled around his form before disappearing.
"There's...there's someone in there!"
Even JungMin stopped fidgetting at that. "What? Are you serious?"
YoungSaeng stared out at the ruins. "But the place is poison...nothing could stand that level of radioactivity."
"Maybe that was why he was passed out underneath something?" HyungJoon asked, then yelped as JungMin swatted at him with one large paw.
"And you just left him there?!"
"Like I said, he was underneath something and I couldn't get him out!" HyungJoon protested, avoiding the griffin.
They all looked to HyunJoong as the leader, the drow staring out into the ruins with a frown on his lips. "...Well, we can't just leave him in there. If he can't move, the radioactivity in this place will kill him before long." He looked back at YoungSaeng.
The hamadryad nodded and sighed. "I'll stay here with the caravan and horses." He wouldn't be able to go far from his tree, and they couldn't bring the caravan straight into the ruins.
Nodding, HyunJoong stood. "Show us where he is then, and no shadow walking this time." He followed HyungJoon into the ruins, JungMin looking back at YoungSaeng before spreading his wings and taking to the air again. YoungSaeng watched them go until the only one he could see was JungMin circling overhead.
The ruins closed in around them, HyunJoong feeling the effect the radioactivity was having on his breathing. They stayed on whatever paths remained for the most part, until HyungJoon led them through the mangled ruins of a building. Why would anyone come in here? It was death...pure death.
"How much farther?" he asked after a few minutes.
"Just about there," HyungJoon called back, clambering over the twisted steel structure that HyunJoong recognized faintly as a car. The drow wondered if there were still bodies in the ruins...40 years wasn't enough to turn the bones to dust.
Then he spotted the charred outline of a hand clutching the car door, and bit back the taste of bile as he directed his attention elsewhere.
"Here we go," HyungJoon panted as they reached the other side of the tangled mess of cars. A truck had flipped over and one of the back doors fallen off. The younger man led him to that door, the metal lying in the ash.
It must have fallen off very recently...because there was someone trapped underneath it.
"Sir?" HyungJoon tried, crouching down. "Sir, can you hear me?"
There was no response from the man, so he was probably unconscious. Or dead. How long could someone survive like this? "Joon ah, you better not have brought us to a corpse," HyunJoong said as he waved JungMin down from the sky.
"He was coughing before as I walked by," HyungJoon said, frowning.
JungMin landed beside them, folding his wings. "Well, let's get this thing off him."
The three of them braced themselves against the heavy piece of metal, and together they lifted it enough for JungMin to get underneath and hold it up by himself. HyunJoong pulled the limp young man out from underneath it before the griffin let the truck door fall back to the ground with a thud.
He was breathing, which was always a good sign...though his heartbeat was too low for HyunJoong's liking and he was obviously sick. Radioactive poisoning for sure.
Something seemed...off about him...but his health was what concerned them the most right now.
"YoungSaeng will be able to take care of him," HyunJoong said after a quick examination. "JungMin, can you bring him back? The faster he breathes in clean air, the better."
The griffin grumbled something about being used as a carrier pigeon but crouched down so they could lift the stranger onto his back between his wings. HyunJoong made sure none of the man's limbs would mess up JungMin's flight before binding him in place with a quick spell. "You're all set. We'll see you back at the caravan."
JungMin took to the air, needing a bit of a running start to get the wind under his wings this time. Adjusting quickly to the added weight, he circled around and headed back towards YoungSaeng.
The hamadryad looked up as he spotted JungMin in the air again, hopping off the caravan to meet him as the griffin landed.
"HyunJoong said you'll be able to look after him," JungMin said as he crouched again. YoungSaeng released the spell binding the young man to JungMin's back and carefully pulled him off and lowered him to the ground.
Frowning, YoungSaeng took in the sickly palour of the other man, checking his temperature. "We need to get him into the caravan. I'll have to draw strength from my plants to pull the poison out of him."
Together they got the stranger inside the caravan, JungMin poking his head in through the doorway to watch YoungSaeng settle down beside the other man's head.
"Can you keep the others out for a bit, Min ah?" YoungSaeng murmured as he started to sink into a trance. "I need quiet." The griffin nodded and disappeared.
HyunJoong and HyungJoon returned ten minutes later to find JungMin curled up outside the caravan door.
"Is YoungSaeng inside?" the drow asked. JungMin nodded his head, putting one paw in front of his beak as if telling them to be quiet. HyungJoon snorted a little at the sight and JungMin swiped at him.
The afternoon was half over before YoungSaeng's voice floated out to them. "He'll be bedridden for a while...but he'll live." The group let out a collective sigh of relief.
HyunJoong and HyungJoon climbed into the caravan, avoiding jostling any of the plants that took up the inside. YoungSaeng needed his miniature garden around in case they traveled across barren land, the hamadryad uncomfortable or downright sickly without them. Right now, YoungSaeng was sitting next to the strange man, gently stroking the leaves of one of his plants. It was brown and wilted, dead.
"You needed that much energy to heal him?" HyunJoong murmured.
YoungSaeng nodded and wiped the traces of tears from his face, sniffing a little. "He must have been in there for a while...I could only pull out enough of the radioactivity that it wouldn't be lethal to him, and his body is malnourished and dehydrated. It will be a while before he can recover properly."
JungMin poked his head inside the caravan again, obviously curious. "Min ah, here's some clothes," YoungSaeng said, grabbing the traveler's outfit and tossing them to the door. "Get in here, it's easier than looking from outside."
The griffin picked up the clothes with his beak and disappeared outside. It said something for how curious he was that he wasn't protesting the need to take up his human form. Like most four-legged races, griffins found it highly uncomfortable to masquerade as a human.
A minute later JungMin entered the caravan, the only sign of his griffin self being his gold eyes and copper hair as the young man settled down beside YoungSaeng. Seeing the dead plant the hamadryad held tightly, he sighed and took it away carefully, placing it aside before wrapping one arm around the other man's waist. YoungSaeng leaned into him thankfully as they looked down at the unconscious man.
He was pale, messy black hair unkept and falling all over the place. His breathing had evened out somewhat, heartrate steadying.
"So any idea what he could have been doing in there?" YoungSaeng asked after a long pause.
HyunJoong shook his head. "The place is a toxic graveyard...I don't see anything that could have been of value in there aside from the metal, and even that would take strong spells to remove the radioactivity from."
"What is he, anyways?" HyungJoon asked, peering at him. "Nothing too strong apparently, or he would have gotten himself out from under that piece of metal."
JungMin looked down at him, and poked his head slightly to one side to check his ears. "No points, so elven's out." He was cute, but what a generic appearance...there were no racial marks visible at all. "Shadowfolk?"
"Shadowfolk would have gotten out of that situation easily," HyungJoon said, shaking his head.
"...Then..." HyunJoong thought carefully. "Is he a sprite?"
"Doesn't seem like it," YoungSaeng eyed him. "His spiritual energy is too low."
"Can we get a look at his eyes maybe?" JungMin started to reach out, and YoungSaeng slapped his hands away.
"You are not prying the poor guy's eyes open while he's unconscious."
A soft moan drew their attention down to the stranger again. He coughed a little, then slowly opened his eyes, blinking up at them.
"Hey," HyunJoong said, a little relieved to see the man was awake. His eyes, now that they could see them, were a soft brown...again nothing helpful. But now that the stranger himself was awake, that wouldn't be a problem. "How are you feeling?"
"...What?"
All four of them froze at the croaked question. That wasn't Latin, or any of their own mother tongues. Even so, they knew it regardless...and wished they didn't.
It was Hangul.
Figuring it to be just a reflex while half-asleep, YoungSaeng continued in quiet Latin. "Do you remember anything? You were found inside the ruins."
The man's eyes went to the hamadryad, and widened ever so slightly as he took in the green tendrils in YoungSaeng's hair and the garden under his skin.
"I...I'm sorry, what?" the man repeated in Hangul, then started to cough. HyungJoon scrambled for water.
Once the man was helped into a sitting position and drinking the offered water, HyunJoong bit his lower lip before speaking up again, this time in Hangul that he hadn't needed to use in years. "Could you...understand us?"
The stranger perked up slightly. "Now I can," he coughed a little, hands shaking. "I...I'm sorry...but where am I?"
"You're in our...house," HyungJoon piped up, needing to think a moment to form the words properly. Hangul had already started fading away when he was born, so he knew it even less than the other three.
"Caravan," corrected YoungSaeng, exchanging a worried look with HyunJoong. If this man only knew Hangul...
JungMin, who had been silent since the conversation in Hangul started, got to his feet suddenly. Before the other's could stop him, he was in front of the stranger and grabbing the collar of his shirt.
"Min," protested YoungSaeng, but fell silent at the dark glow in the griffin's eyes. The unknown man just stared at him, barely holding on to the water in his hands.
The griffin searched his eyes carefully. "I don't believe it..." he trailed off in Latin. Then he suddenly shoved the man away from him, getting up and backing away.
"JungMin, what's wrong?" HyunJoong asked, though he had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"He's not shadowfolk, sprite or even elementalist," JungMin hissed, hands curled into fists. "He's human!"
******************************
If there is any confusion over the different races, the following pages may help:
Hamadryad | Shadow folk | Drow | Griffin