My Knight in Tin Foil [1/8]
Title: My Knight in Tin Foil [1/8]
Author: ixjaydee
Rating: PG
Pairing: Myungyeol (Myungsoo/Sungyeol)
Genre: srs bsns
Disclaimer: Do not own.
Summary: When the Kingdom of Woolim gets frozen in time, Prince Myungsoo must make a journey across the land to visit the Titan of Time to restore Time to his kingdom. Accompanying him will be his personal bodyguard and knight, Sir Sungyeol, his pet parrot, Woohyun, and a dark, terrible wizard by the name of His Terribleness, Sungjong.
AN;; Myungyeol chaptered fic. Despite what the genre says, this fic will be anything but srs bsns. Just a cute little thing for me to relax with. I hope you guys enjoy it!
--
The First Night
--
“Father, is that really necessary? I don’t need a baby sitter,” Prince Myungsoo said with a frown. His father, King Tablo was giving him a stern look from the throne before adjusting his crown on his head.
“You’re becoming impossible to find these days, especially when I have things for you to do. Don’t think of him as a baby sitter, think of him as a personal bodyguard.” Myungsoo turned to look at the knight standing beside him, watching as he started to nod off on his feet. He sighed and covered his eyes with his hand when the knight almost fell over in his full suit of armor.
Even the king started to look apprehensive as he glanced over to his advisor, Mithra. Mithra cleared his throat and leaned over to the king to speak.
“He came highly recommended, Sire.” Tablo blinked a few times before mirroring Myungsoo’s expression.
--
“Stop following me around,” Myungsoo said as he made his way to the kitchens in the lower level of the castle.
“Well, that’s kind of my job.” The knight finally removed most of his armor and had it sent to the armory, leaving him in light clothes. He seemed to shrink to a fourth of his size without his armor. It looked like he would probably snap in half if the wind blew too hard, because he was so skinny and tall.
“I’m Sungyeol, by the way. No need to address me as sir. It feels redundant.” Sungyeol yawned and stretched his arms before scratching at his chest. He hadn’t had breakfast yet since he was called in so early to the castle. He usually spent his days working in the town wherever they needed him.
The Kingdom of Woolim was a fairly sizeable kingdom. Myungsoo had three brothers. The oldest was Prince Sunggyu. His father thought that Sunggyu was a little bit too nice to handle running a kingdom, so Sunggyu spent his days making music. His voice was always echoing through the halls of the castle.
The second oldest was Dongwoo. He too, was deemed too nice to run the kingdom. Myungsoo wasn’t exactly sure what Dongwoo did with his time, but more than once, Dongwoo came to dinner smelling like animals.
And then there was Hoya. Myungsoo was sure that Hoya was going to be next in line at the throne, for sure. He was the only one that ever took their father seriously, and Myungsoo sensed that was why the king favored him over the others.
Myungsoo was the youngest, the fourth son. No one really paid much attention to him until they needed him. He didn’t mind, though. It just gave him a little bit more freedom than his brothers. The staff rarely ever said anything to him or bothered him.
Until now.
Sungyeol reached over to Myungsoo’s bowl and snatched the apple out of it and took a bite. Myungsoo blinked at him a few times in disbelief.
“Did you just take my food? We’re in the kitchens! There’s food everywhere!” Sungyeol’s eyes traveled around the kitchens for a moment before he shrugged and continued to eat the apple.
“I wanted this apple.”
--
It’d barely been half an hour, but Myungsoo was already about to strangle Sungyeol. Sungyeol made light conversation with him as they walked, no matter if Myungsoo replied to him or not. Most of the staff gave Sungyeol weird looks, unsure of whether or not he was mad.
Sungyeol stopped once or twice to admire the view from one of the castle windows. When he finally stopped and leaned his head out of the window, Myungsoo took the chance to duck into a secret passage up towards his room.
There was no way Sungyeol was going to find him now. When Sungyeol finally pulled his head back inside, Myungsoo was nowhere to be seen. He sighed and shrugged his shoulders, taking another bite out of his apple.
He didn’t come recommended for no reason.
--
Myungsoo climbed the stairs to his room and looked around before pushing his door open, and freezing.
Sungyeol was on his bed, finishing up his apple and reading through one of his journals. Upon hearing the door open, Sungyeol glanced up to see Myungsoo’s dumbstruck face and smiled with his mouth full.
“You know, you’re a pretty good writer. Did you translate these from the olden texts? It’s really good,” Sungyeol said, watching as horror spread on Myungsoo’s face when bits of apple flew onto the pages.
Myungsoo stalked into him room and snatched the journal away from him, dusting the pages off. On his way in, he accidentally rattled the cage of his pet parrot, Woohyun, making him squawk indignantly.
“Sorry, Woohyun.” Myungsoo saw the parrot fluff up his feathers before turning away to fix his feathers. He rolled his eyes. He’d never met a parrot more full of himself. Sungyeol rolled over on Myungsoo’s bed and threw the core of his finished apple out the window before wiping his hands on his covers.
“You are disgusting. Can you not?” Myungsoo said, returning his journal to its proper place among his other ones. They were a work in progress.
“So you’re translating the olden texts?” Sungyeol asked with much curiosity. He got up from Myungsoo’s bed and made his way over to Woohyun’s cage before making bird noises at him. Myungsoo sighed. It’d only been an hour. Less than an hour. He was going to die.
“Yes, I am,” Myungsoo said stiffly. The olden texts mainly depicted legends and fairytales from before the kingdom was created. Myungsoo found them fascinating and would spend hours down in the library translating the stories.
He kept his only copy of the translations in his room. Myungsoo would probably move them down to the library for others to enjoy when he finished. Or when the scribes decided to decipher his handwriting and rewrite it for other people to read.
“That’s good, that’s good. Fun way to pass the time. Found any that you really like?” Sungyeol asked, reaching into the cage and poking his finger at Woohyun.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Woohyun gets touchy about who touches him.” Sungyeol withdrew his finger hastily when Woohyun tried to take a bite out of his finger.
“What a mean bird.” Sungyeol frowned at the parrot before turning back to Myungsoo with a smile.
“Are you going to go do some more translating? Would you mind if I started reading from the beginning?” Sungyeol asked, gesturing to the row of journals on his desk.
“I... I don’t really like people taking these out of my room.”
“That’s okay. I can read them up here.”
“I do my translating in the library, though.”
“That’s fine.” Myungsoo could hardly contain his excitement. He was finally going to get rid of Sungyeol and do something by himself. The longest hour of his life was finally over. Sungyeol walked over to the journals and picked up the first one before settling on Myungsoo’s bed.
“Don’t go too far, Myungsoo. I won’t be able to find you.”
--
Myungsoo debated about getting as far away as he could from the castle with a volume of the olden texts to translate. The library was a floor up from the dungeons, which was pretty far away from his room near the top of the castle.
He supposed it was enough distance as he settled down in his chair in the library. The torch above him burned brightly, illuminating his desk. Quills and inkwells were scattered here and there, mixed in with various scrolls and journals.
Myungsoo grabbed the journal with his latest translations and the volume of olden text he was translating and started his work again.
Hardly anyone ever came down to the library so his work was always undisturbed. Myungsoo only got a page of translations done when a chill went down his spine. Something felt different about the silence today. It unnerved him a little bit.
“It’s probably Sungyeol,” he muttered to himself, dipping his quill into the ink again and returning to his translations.
--
Hours passed by, hours that Myungsoo took no heed to, instead, concentrating on his work. Then suddenly, his desk started to rattle, making his words shake on the journal. He dropped the quill and looked up in alarm.
But as soon as the shaking started, it was gone. Blinking a few times in confusion, Myungsoo looked down at his ruined page and sighed, crossing it out and resigning to start over.
After a few more minutes, though, another sound made him look up. It was a loud pink, followed by the sound of something being sucked up. Myungsoo stood up from his desk and grabbed the torch, warily making his way to the door.
His hand barely touched the doorknob when a hand covered his mouth and pulled him back, making his eyes widen in surprise.
“Shh, it’s just me,” Sungyeol whispered, letting go of Myungsoo as soon as he felt him shake his head. Myungsoo held the torch up to illuminate Sungyeol’s face, and quickly swallowed any words he had to say.
Sungyeol looked completely serious and grave, a little bit angry.
“I told you not to stray too far away from me,” he whispered again, taking a look around the library. He grabbed the olden text and Myungsoo’s journals, shoving them all into a large bag hanging on Myungsoo’s chair. He handed it to Myungsoo and told him to keep quiet.
“What’s going on?” Myungsoo whispered, hiding behind Sungyeol as he took his gloves off and stuffed them into a pouch at his waist.
“Something bad. Come on. Stay close.” Myungsoo inched closer to Sungyeol, almost right on top of him. It was Sungyeol’s turn to roll his eyes as he turned around and pushed Myungsoo back a little bit.
“I know I said stay close, but give me a little personal space, will you?” Myungsoo gave him a look of disbelief as Sungyeol reached for the doorknob and opened it.
The sight that greeted Myungsoo had him blinking twice to make sure his eyes were still working properly.
Everything was in frozen in black, and white, and shades of grey.
“Sungyeol... What’s going on?” Myungsoo asked slowly. Sungyeol shushed him again before sticking his head out of the door and looking around to make sure the coast was clear.
“Sungyeol...”
“Hold on. Just follow me, and be quiet.”
--
Myungsoo followed Sungyeol through the castle as quietly as he could, holding onto the strap of the bag with all of the olden text and his journals. Sungyeol looked around, waving his hands in front of people as he passed them.
“They’re stuck. Frozen in time.” Myungsoo watched some of their faces were stuck in confusion, horror, and even a small little kid that was picking his nose.
“How...”
“You’ve translated this before, in the olden texts, haven’t you?” Myungsoo blinked in confusion again until it dawned on him.
“I did! It states in legend that every kingdom has a hidden hourglass, one that regulates the flow of time for that particular place. It’s supposed to be very well hidden though, so almost no one but the ruler of the kingdom knows where it is. But it’s just legend right?”
“You translated what happens when someone finds that hourglass and takes it away right?” Myungsoo wracked his memories. This was one of the first legends he ever translated.
“Yeah, something about everything coming to a complete stop, stuck in time forever until the hourglass is replaced. But that doesn’t make any sense, it’s just a legend.” Sungyeol snorted as he pushed open the door to the throne room and made his way towards the throne where Myungsoo’s father, King Tablo sat frozen with a look of horror on his face.
“Doesn’t look like it’s just a legend anymore, does it?” Sungyeol gently pushed the king over on his throne, and Myungsoo gasped.
On the back of his father’s throne, was a hole in the shape of an hourglass.
“Looks like someone found it.”
“But. But. Who? Who would do something like this? And why?” Sungyeol sighed and pulled the king back up into his sitting position.
“Someone looking for more time. So either we find out who stole it, or we buy more time.”
“Buy more time? You can buy more time?” Sungyeol shook his head and rubbed at his temples.
“Seriously? Do you read what you translate? Or are you just slow at remembering things?”
“Shut up,” Myungsoo hissed. He made a mental note to reread all of his texts again.
“We travel across the land and look for the Titan of Time and make a bargain. The olden texts are the guide to buying more time. Get with the program, Myungsoo.”
--
“Why do we have to keep quiet?” Myungsoo asked as Sungyeol flitted around and grabbed all of Myungsoo’s journals from his room and stuffed them into the bag.
“Strange things come out when there’s no time left.” Myungsoo gulped as Sungyeol took one last look around the room.
“Wait. Where’s your parrot?” The cage was frozen in time, but most definitely empty.
“I don’t know. He likes to let himself out and stretch his wings every once in a while. Maybe he’s still in the castle.”
“Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
--
Myungsoo could do nothing but follow Sungyeol around helplessly as he picked up supplies and packed them onto a wagon. It took a lot of force, but Sungyeol managed to pull one back into time. The amount of noise Sungyeol was making was making Myungsoo nervous though.
“Aren’t you being too loud?”
“Yep. Let’s hurry up and get out of here already.” Myungsoo threw his bag into the wagon and hopped inside, making Sungyeol give him a weird look.
“What?”
“You’re helping me pull this thing. I’m not pulling this by myself. Who do you think you are?”
“Prince Myungsoo of the Kingdom of Woolim.”
“Your kingdom looks pretty frozen. Get out of there.”
--
“Oh crap.” Sungyeol stared at the frozen drawbridge in front of them. It would be their luck at it was raised.
“This is going to make a lot of noise to take down.” Sungyeol bit his lip and glanced back into the frozen castle. He could make out the sound of a faint roar emanating from the halls.
“What was that?” Myungsoo asked, eyes widening.
“Well. Remember when I said there were things that came out when there was no time left?” There was another roar, this time a little bit louder.
“That’s one of them. Get ready to run with the wagon. Get a little bit of momentum.” Myungsoo blinked a few times before grabbing the wagon and started to move. Sungyeol started chanting in an old language and moved towards the drawbridge.
Strange patters glowed an eerie blue on his hands as he pressed his hands against the drawbridge. The roar came even closer, making Myungsoo start to panic.
“Sungyeol,” he said, a little bit more worried. There was a loud crash as Sungyeol finished his chanting, and the drawbridge fell with a crash.
“Go! Run! Run!” Sungyeol shouted as he ran back to grab the other handle of the wagon to help him pull.
A loud crash came from the castle entrance, making Myungsoo take a glance over his shoulder.
“What the hell is that thing?!” Myungsoo shouted. A large boar with gigantic tusks bellowed at the doorway. It’s body was covered with the same patterns he saw on Sungyeol’s hands, but Sungyeol didn’t give him much time to observe as the wagon jerked forward.
“Faster, oh my god. Myungsoo, run, damnit, run! This is no time to sight see!” They dragged the wagon through the frozen town. The ground below them was shaking, and Myungsoo didn’t even have to look to know that the thing was chasing them down.
“Go for the color! Head for the color!” Myungsoo strained his eyes and saw that the forest path at the edge of the town was green. He could see sunlight and ran for it with all of his might. Something red caught the corner of Sungyeol’s eye as he ran, so he reached out to grab it, only to hear indignant squawking.
“Oh. It’s you.” Sungyeol said as the boar bellowed again behind him. Sungyeol turned to look over his shoulder and saw it catching up. He could feel the edge of its tusk touching his back.
“Oh, crap!” Sungyeol put on a final burst of speed as they crashed into the color, where time was running normally. The boar disappeared from behind them as Sungyeol dug his feet into the ground to stop the cart from crashing into the trees.
When they finally came to a stop, Sungyeol fell onto the ground, wiping sweat away from his forehead. He felt Myungsoo do the same and lean against him for support.
“Ow, holy-” Sungyeol felt a sharp pain in his hand and let go of the bird to shake his hand.
“Stupid parrot! That’s what I get for saving your life?!”
--
Start | Next
Author: ixjaydee
Rating: PG
Pairing: Myungyeol (Myungsoo/Sungyeol)
Genre: srs bsns
Disclaimer: Do not own.
Summary: When the Kingdom of Woolim gets frozen in time, Prince Myungsoo must make a journey across the land to visit the Titan of Time to restore Time to his kingdom. Accompanying him will be his personal bodyguard and knight, Sir Sungyeol, his pet parrot, Woohyun, and a dark, terrible wizard by the name of His Terribleness, Sungjong.
AN;; Myungyeol chaptered fic. Despite what the genre says, this fic will be anything but srs bsns. Just a cute little thing for me to relax with. I hope you guys enjoy it!
--
The First Night
--
“Father, is that really necessary? I don’t need a baby sitter,” Prince Myungsoo said with a frown. His father, King Tablo was giving him a stern look from the throne before adjusting his crown on his head.
“You’re becoming impossible to find these days, especially when I have things for you to do. Don’t think of him as a baby sitter, think of him as a personal bodyguard.” Myungsoo turned to look at the knight standing beside him, watching as he started to nod off on his feet. He sighed and covered his eyes with his hand when the knight almost fell over in his full suit of armor.
Even the king started to look apprehensive as he glanced over to his advisor, Mithra. Mithra cleared his throat and leaned over to the king to speak.
“He came highly recommended, Sire.” Tablo blinked a few times before mirroring Myungsoo’s expression.
--
“Stop following me around,” Myungsoo said as he made his way to the kitchens in the lower level of the castle.
“Well, that’s kind of my job.” The knight finally removed most of his armor and had it sent to the armory, leaving him in light clothes. He seemed to shrink to a fourth of his size without his armor. It looked like he would probably snap in half if the wind blew too hard, because he was so skinny and tall.
“I’m Sungyeol, by the way. No need to address me as sir. It feels redundant.” Sungyeol yawned and stretched his arms before scratching at his chest. He hadn’t had breakfast yet since he was called in so early to the castle. He usually spent his days working in the town wherever they needed him.
The Kingdom of Woolim was a fairly sizeable kingdom. Myungsoo had three brothers. The oldest was Prince Sunggyu. His father thought that Sunggyu was a little bit too nice to handle running a kingdom, so Sunggyu spent his days making music. His voice was always echoing through the halls of the castle.
The second oldest was Dongwoo. He too, was deemed too nice to run the kingdom. Myungsoo wasn’t exactly sure what Dongwoo did with his time, but more than once, Dongwoo came to dinner smelling like animals.
And then there was Hoya. Myungsoo was sure that Hoya was going to be next in line at the throne, for sure. He was the only one that ever took their father seriously, and Myungsoo sensed that was why the king favored him over the others.
Myungsoo was the youngest, the fourth son. No one really paid much attention to him until they needed him. He didn’t mind, though. It just gave him a little bit more freedom than his brothers. The staff rarely ever said anything to him or bothered him.
Until now.
Sungyeol reached over to Myungsoo’s bowl and snatched the apple out of it and took a bite. Myungsoo blinked at him a few times in disbelief.
“Did you just take my food? We’re in the kitchens! There’s food everywhere!” Sungyeol’s eyes traveled around the kitchens for a moment before he shrugged and continued to eat the apple.
“I wanted this apple.”
--
It’d barely been half an hour, but Myungsoo was already about to strangle Sungyeol. Sungyeol made light conversation with him as they walked, no matter if Myungsoo replied to him or not. Most of the staff gave Sungyeol weird looks, unsure of whether or not he was mad.
Sungyeol stopped once or twice to admire the view from one of the castle windows. When he finally stopped and leaned his head out of the window, Myungsoo took the chance to duck into a secret passage up towards his room.
There was no way Sungyeol was going to find him now. When Sungyeol finally pulled his head back inside, Myungsoo was nowhere to be seen. He sighed and shrugged his shoulders, taking another bite out of his apple.
He didn’t come recommended for no reason.
--
Myungsoo climbed the stairs to his room and looked around before pushing his door open, and freezing.
Sungyeol was on his bed, finishing up his apple and reading through one of his journals. Upon hearing the door open, Sungyeol glanced up to see Myungsoo’s dumbstruck face and smiled with his mouth full.
“You know, you’re a pretty good writer. Did you translate these from the olden texts? It’s really good,” Sungyeol said, watching as horror spread on Myungsoo’s face when bits of apple flew onto the pages.
Myungsoo stalked into him room and snatched the journal away from him, dusting the pages off. On his way in, he accidentally rattled the cage of his pet parrot, Woohyun, making him squawk indignantly.
“Sorry, Woohyun.” Myungsoo saw the parrot fluff up his feathers before turning away to fix his feathers. He rolled his eyes. He’d never met a parrot more full of himself. Sungyeol rolled over on Myungsoo’s bed and threw the core of his finished apple out the window before wiping his hands on his covers.
“You are disgusting. Can you not?” Myungsoo said, returning his journal to its proper place among his other ones. They were a work in progress.
“So you’re translating the olden texts?” Sungyeol asked with much curiosity. He got up from Myungsoo’s bed and made his way over to Woohyun’s cage before making bird noises at him. Myungsoo sighed. It’d only been an hour. Less than an hour. He was going to die.
“Yes, I am,” Myungsoo said stiffly. The olden texts mainly depicted legends and fairytales from before the kingdom was created. Myungsoo found them fascinating and would spend hours down in the library translating the stories.
He kept his only copy of the translations in his room. Myungsoo would probably move them down to the library for others to enjoy when he finished. Or when the scribes decided to decipher his handwriting and rewrite it for other people to read.
“That’s good, that’s good. Fun way to pass the time. Found any that you really like?” Sungyeol asked, reaching into the cage and poking his finger at Woohyun.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Woohyun gets touchy about who touches him.” Sungyeol withdrew his finger hastily when Woohyun tried to take a bite out of his finger.
“What a mean bird.” Sungyeol frowned at the parrot before turning back to Myungsoo with a smile.
“Are you going to go do some more translating? Would you mind if I started reading from the beginning?” Sungyeol asked, gesturing to the row of journals on his desk.
“I... I don’t really like people taking these out of my room.”
“That’s okay. I can read them up here.”
“I do my translating in the library, though.”
“That’s fine.” Myungsoo could hardly contain his excitement. He was finally going to get rid of Sungyeol and do something by himself. The longest hour of his life was finally over. Sungyeol walked over to the journals and picked up the first one before settling on Myungsoo’s bed.
“Don’t go too far, Myungsoo. I won’t be able to find you.”
--
Myungsoo debated about getting as far away as he could from the castle with a volume of the olden texts to translate. The library was a floor up from the dungeons, which was pretty far away from his room near the top of the castle.
He supposed it was enough distance as he settled down in his chair in the library. The torch above him burned brightly, illuminating his desk. Quills and inkwells were scattered here and there, mixed in with various scrolls and journals.
Myungsoo grabbed the journal with his latest translations and the volume of olden text he was translating and started his work again.
Hardly anyone ever came down to the library so his work was always undisturbed. Myungsoo only got a page of translations done when a chill went down his spine. Something felt different about the silence today. It unnerved him a little bit.
“It’s probably Sungyeol,” he muttered to himself, dipping his quill into the ink again and returning to his translations.
--
Hours passed by, hours that Myungsoo took no heed to, instead, concentrating on his work. Then suddenly, his desk started to rattle, making his words shake on the journal. He dropped the quill and looked up in alarm.
But as soon as the shaking started, it was gone. Blinking a few times in confusion, Myungsoo looked down at his ruined page and sighed, crossing it out and resigning to start over.
After a few more minutes, though, another sound made him look up. It was a loud pink, followed by the sound of something being sucked up. Myungsoo stood up from his desk and grabbed the torch, warily making his way to the door.
His hand barely touched the doorknob when a hand covered his mouth and pulled him back, making his eyes widen in surprise.
“Shh, it’s just me,” Sungyeol whispered, letting go of Myungsoo as soon as he felt him shake his head. Myungsoo held the torch up to illuminate Sungyeol’s face, and quickly swallowed any words he had to say.
Sungyeol looked completely serious and grave, a little bit angry.
“I told you not to stray too far away from me,” he whispered again, taking a look around the library. He grabbed the olden text and Myungsoo’s journals, shoving them all into a large bag hanging on Myungsoo’s chair. He handed it to Myungsoo and told him to keep quiet.
“What’s going on?” Myungsoo whispered, hiding behind Sungyeol as he took his gloves off and stuffed them into a pouch at his waist.
“Something bad. Come on. Stay close.” Myungsoo inched closer to Sungyeol, almost right on top of him. It was Sungyeol’s turn to roll his eyes as he turned around and pushed Myungsoo back a little bit.
“I know I said stay close, but give me a little personal space, will you?” Myungsoo gave him a look of disbelief as Sungyeol reached for the doorknob and opened it.
The sight that greeted Myungsoo had him blinking twice to make sure his eyes were still working properly.
Everything was in frozen in black, and white, and shades of grey.
“Sungyeol... What’s going on?” Myungsoo asked slowly. Sungyeol shushed him again before sticking his head out of the door and looking around to make sure the coast was clear.
“Sungyeol...”
“Hold on. Just follow me, and be quiet.”
--
Myungsoo followed Sungyeol through the castle as quietly as he could, holding onto the strap of the bag with all of the olden text and his journals. Sungyeol looked around, waving his hands in front of people as he passed them.
“They’re stuck. Frozen in time.” Myungsoo watched some of their faces were stuck in confusion, horror, and even a small little kid that was picking his nose.
“How...”
“You’ve translated this before, in the olden texts, haven’t you?” Myungsoo blinked in confusion again until it dawned on him.
“I did! It states in legend that every kingdom has a hidden hourglass, one that regulates the flow of time for that particular place. It’s supposed to be very well hidden though, so almost no one but the ruler of the kingdom knows where it is. But it’s just legend right?”
“You translated what happens when someone finds that hourglass and takes it away right?” Myungsoo wracked his memories. This was one of the first legends he ever translated.
“Yeah, something about everything coming to a complete stop, stuck in time forever until the hourglass is replaced. But that doesn’t make any sense, it’s just a legend.” Sungyeol snorted as he pushed open the door to the throne room and made his way towards the throne where Myungsoo’s father, King Tablo sat frozen with a look of horror on his face.
“Doesn’t look like it’s just a legend anymore, does it?” Sungyeol gently pushed the king over on his throne, and Myungsoo gasped.
On the back of his father’s throne, was a hole in the shape of an hourglass.
“Looks like someone found it.”
“But. But. Who? Who would do something like this? And why?” Sungyeol sighed and pulled the king back up into his sitting position.
“Someone looking for more time. So either we find out who stole it, or we buy more time.”
“Buy more time? You can buy more time?” Sungyeol shook his head and rubbed at his temples.
“Seriously? Do you read what you translate? Or are you just slow at remembering things?”
“Shut up,” Myungsoo hissed. He made a mental note to reread all of his texts again.
“We travel across the land and look for the Titan of Time and make a bargain. The olden texts are the guide to buying more time. Get with the program, Myungsoo.”
--
“Why do we have to keep quiet?” Myungsoo asked as Sungyeol flitted around and grabbed all of Myungsoo’s journals from his room and stuffed them into the bag.
“Strange things come out when there’s no time left.” Myungsoo gulped as Sungyeol took one last look around the room.
“Wait. Where’s your parrot?” The cage was frozen in time, but most definitely empty.
“I don’t know. He likes to let himself out and stretch his wings every once in a while. Maybe he’s still in the castle.”
“Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
--
Myungsoo could do nothing but follow Sungyeol around helplessly as he picked up supplies and packed them onto a wagon. It took a lot of force, but Sungyeol managed to pull one back into time. The amount of noise Sungyeol was making was making Myungsoo nervous though.
“Aren’t you being too loud?”
“Yep. Let’s hurry up and get out of here already.” Myungsoo threw his bag into the wagon and hopped inside, making Sungyeol give him a weird look.
“What?”
“You’re helping me pull this thing. I’m not pulling this by myself. Who do you think you are?”
“Prince Myungsoo of the Kingdom of Woolim.”
“Your kingdom looks pretty frozen. Get out of there.”
--
“Oh crap.” Sungyeol stared at the frozen drawbridge in front of them. It would be their luck at it was raised.
“This is going to make a lot of noise to take down.” Sungyeol bit his lip and glanced back into the frozen castle. He could make out the sound of a faint roar emanating from the halls.
“What was that?” Myungsoo asked, eyes widening.
“Well. Remember when I said there were things that came out when there was no time left?” There was another roar, this time a little bit louder.
“That’s one of them. Get ready to run with the wagon. Get a little bit of momentum.” Myungsoo blinked a few times before grabbing the wagon and started to move. Sungyeol started chanting in an old language and moved towards the drawbridge.
Strange patters glowed an eerie blue on his hands as he pressed his hands against the drawbridge. The roar came even closer, making Myungsoo start to panic.
“Sungyeol,” he said, a little bit more worried. There was a loud crash as Sungyeol finished his chanting, and the drawbridge fell with a crash.
“Go! Run! Run!” Sungyeol shouted as he ran back to grab the other handle of the wagon to help him pull.
A loud crash came from the castle entrance, making Myungsoo take a glance over his shoulder.
“What the hell is that thing?!” Myungsoo shouted. A large boar with gigantic tusks bellowed at the doorway. It’s body was covered with the same patterns he saw on Sungyeol’s hands, but Sungyeol didn’t give him much time to observe as the wagon jerked forward.
“Faster, oh my god. Myungsoo, run, damnit, run! This is no time to sight see!” They dragged the wagon through the frozen town. The ground below them was shaking, and Myungsoo didn’t even have to look to know that the thing was chasing them down.
“Go for the color! Head for the color!” Myungsoo strained his eyes and saw that the forest path at the edge of the town was green. He could see sunlight and ran for it with all of his might. Something red caught the corner of Sungyeol’s eye as he ran, so he reached out to grab it, only to hear indignant squawking.
“Oh. It’s you.” Sungyeol said as the boar bellowed again behind him. Sungyeol turned to look over his shoulder and saw it catching up. He could feel the edge of its tusk touching his back.
“Oh, crap!” Sungyeol put on a final burst of speed as they crashed into the color, where time was running normally. The boar disappeared from behind them as Sungyeol dug his feet into the ground to stop the cart from crashing into the trees.
When they finally came to a stop, Sungyeol fell onto the ground, wiping sweat away from his forehead. He felt Myungsoo do the same and lean against him for support.
“Ow, holy-” Sungyeol felt a sharp pain in his hand and let go of the bird to shake his hand.
“Stupid parrot! That’s what I get for saving your life?!”
--
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