CHINGUX 2014: (fairy tale) adventure time (2/2) for anita_dee
← PART 1
The three friends immediately sprint across the floor to the workroom in order to find their babysitter hyungs. Their kid instincts are the first things to kick in after processing everything that happened: find the nearest adult for help. To their dismay, they do not find their hyungs in the workroom.
“Did Tao and Sehun take them too??” Chanyeol bellows.
“Are we the only ones in the house now…?” Baekhyun timidly says.
Chanyeol runs over to the house phone in the room and attempts to dial Joonmyun-hyung’s cell phone number. However, the task proves futile because the phone line is dead.
“What’s going on here…?” he mumbles. “Let’s go check downstairs. The hyungs might be in kitchen.”
Baekhyun and Jongdae follow Chanyeol’s lead down the stairs, subconsciously huddling together. They cautiously take one step down at a time until the lights flicker and the house begins to shake again. The two boys bump into Chanyeol’s back when he abruptly stops.
“The weird things are happening again!! What are we supposed to do??” he panics.
Strong gusts of wind disperse throughout the room as a large black hole begins to appear at the bottom of the stairs. Before Jongdae or Baekhyun could answer Chanyeol’s panicking, the stairs suddenly morph into a slide, and the boys cry out in surprise as they fall onto their behinds and skid down into the black hole awaiting them.
The last thing they hear before the black hole engulfs them is the sound of Tao’s cackles in the distance.
---
Jongdae groans out loud as he slowly regains consciousness. He hears matching groans from his other two friends lying close by. He feels the hard dirt ground underneath him as he gets up and takes in the rest of his surroundings. The boys are no longer inside Chanyeol’s house. They perhaps aren’t even in their world anymore. The sky is dark and accompanied by swirling storm clouds. Run-down, medieval-looking houses line the streets, but despite the strange new setting, their surroundings seem a little familiar to Jongdae…
“Is everyone alright?” Chanyeol asks as he looks to both of his friends while rubbing the back of his head.
Jongdae gives a slow nod and Baekhyun returns with a quiet whimper as he gets on his feet. Silence covers them again as the seven-year-olds reprocess the strange new series of events. Chanyeol yelps in surprise as Jongdae pokes him on his side rather harshly with the toy sword that’s still in his hand.
“Sorry, man. I wanted to check this time too…” Jongdae apologizes with a sheepish grin.
Chanyeol glares at him and then joins Jongdae in reviewing their surroundings.
“Well, guys...I don’t think we’re in Seoul anymore.” he announces.
“Doesn’t everything look a bit familiar though? We look like we’re in the park near my neighborhood,” Jongdae contemplates. “All the tree and house placements are the same and everything!”
He points out random landmarks as Chanyeol ohhs at everything and replies with nods. The silence that the kids are now well-acquainted with slowly makes its return. Everything that has happened so far reminds Jongdae of elements in the fairy tale stories that he reads every night. If their situation now is anything like it is in his fairy tales, then the three boys are the heroes and Tao and Sehun are the bad guys who not only hold their friend hostage, but also hold the power to this world: the triforce.
It’s funny, because Jongdae feels anything but heroic right now. He’s an ordinary seven-year-old with no special powers or strengths. He suddenly identifies with the dwarf character in the tale he read a couple of nights ago, but then he also remembers how the dwarf took a stand for himself and eventually gained the courage to fight for his friends and saved their kingdom. After some quick reflection in his head, Kim Jongdae comes to his resolution. He clenches his fists and swings around to face his friends.
“All right, guys. I don’t know where we are right now and might not ever know it, but I do know that Kyungsoo is in trouble, and we have to go save him and go back home. If my knowledge of fairy tales helps me at all, then I think the triforce that Tao has holds the key to our returning home. Questions will constantly hit us, and obstacles may stand in our way, but that’s okay,” Jongdae declares with determination. “Because we’ll all be in this together.”
Chanyeol slowly claps with his mouth hanging open, and Baekhyun continues to stare blankly at Jongdae.
“Sometimes, the heroes in the stories follow their gut feelings when they don’t know what to do. And right now, my gut tells us to head in the direction of where my house should be. My house isn’t very far from the park, so it shouldn’t take us too long. Follow my lead, guys!”
Jongdae marches off, and Chanyeol enthusiastically follows right behind, having been motivated by Jongdae’s little speech. The two boys barely march five steps before they feel the absence of their last friend. They both turn around to see Baekhyun, feet still rooted in his spot. The boy had been awfully quiet ever since they landed in this strange world, which is very uncharacteristic of his beagle-like personality.
“Baekhyun-ah, what’s wrong?” Chanyeol inquires with concern.
Baekhyun doesn’t reply to his question and continues to stare down at the ground. Jongdae gently places his hands on Baekhyun’s shoulders and tries to coax him.
“Guys, I’m really scared…” the small boy murmurs. “And this is all my fault because I kept making fun of Tao…”
“Baekhyun-ah! Stop thinking that! This isn’t your fault! Mistakes happen,” Jongdae reassures him. “And don’t worry, I think we’re all scared here. I was just trying to channel the fairy tale heroes earlier when I made that speech. I’m really scared, too!”
“Yeah, Baekhyunnie, I’m scared too!” Chanyeol pipes up. “But like Jongdae said earlier, at least we’re all here together! Well, minus Kyungsoo...but that’s okay because we’re going to go save him! Together!”
Baekhyun looks back and forth at both of his friends before casting his head down again.
“C’mon, Baekhyun-ah! We can do this! You can do this!” Jongdae proclaims as he lifts Baekhyun’s head up. “You’re fearless, remember? You can do this! Chanyeollie and I are right here with you!”
Baekhyun peeks at his friends again, and slowly smiles at them. They were right. They’re in this together. And standing around feeling sorry for himself isn’t going to do anything for their predicament. Jongdae opened his hand towards him, and Baekhyun took it. Jongdae reassuringly squeezed his hand and smiled at him.
Feeling more united and renewed, the boys set off in the direction of Jongdae’s house. Jongdae leads the way and hopes that they’ll be able to find something, anything really, that will aid them.
Maybe-not-so-favorite part of his day featuring fairy tales, part two: start.
The children stare up at the building that occupies the space where Jongdae’s house should be. They surprisingly (and maybe thankfully) do not encounter any particular obstacles on their way here. No fire-breathing dragons to defeat or anything. But the boys have already learned to be careful of what they wish for…
The building looks different from the other ones that they saw on their way to Jongdae’s house. There are presumed signs of life in the house as seen through the active smoke coming out of the chimney. The thought of meeting other humans besides them in the world both scares and excites them. Will this person be able to help them? Will this person end up harming them? Is this alleged person even a human to begin with?
Before their minds start to wander dangerously, Baekhyun cuts their trains of thought.
“Should we...knock?”
“You can do the honors, Jongdae. It’s supposed to be your house.”
Jongdae sighs at the two and walks up to the door with them huddling behind. He knocks loudly three times in succession.
“Come in!” a voice calls from inside.
The kids all jump at the voice. They aren’t sure what they were expecting. Jongdae clenches his fists again and slowly turns the door knob to walk inside. Their eyes all grow wide at the interior of the house. Various types of weapons and armors hang on display on the wall and also behind the desk that an older boy occupies. However, the said older boy looks very familiar…
“Joonmyun-hyung!” the boys shout simultaneously.
They run behind the desk to embrace the older male, wails of relief accompanying them. The Joonmyun-hyung look-a-like hesitantly returns their bone-crushing hugs with light pats on the back.
“Um, hi there guys. Do I know you kids?” he asks. “How do you all know my name?”
The kids retreat from the male with frowns on their faces. Who is this imposter that looks exactly identical to their favorite hyung? Well, minus the light mustache and peach fuzz around his face.
“If you’re not our babysitter, then who are you?” Chanyeol cautiously questions.
“I’m Joonmyun, and I run the armory in this town. Although I strangely haven’t had any customers since I opened today. It’s like no one else is here in town right now. I wonder if something happened…The weather has been horrible and the skies have been awfully dark and gloomy all day. The last time this happened, it was when my great-great-grandfather was around my age and ran this armory himself.”
“A-and what happened back then?” Baekhyun stammers out.
“The triforce was stolen. It ruined the balance and peace of our kingdom. Animals were overturned with evil, and it was like a warzone everywhere outside. People looted and had to carry around weapons with them. It was every man for himself.”
“Oh my goodness, it’s actually happening guys. The triforce being stolen, this strange world, everything! We’re living out a fairy tale right now where magic and evil creatures exists! I will never question the events in your fairy tales ever again, Jongdae,” Chanyeol says in dismay. “Joonmyun-hyung! You have to help us out!!”
“Well, I think you kids are a little too young to be wandering around by yourselves. I can’t leave the armory, but you kids can stay here with me if you all would like. Coming from a family of armor and weapon specialists, I know a thing or two about handling a sword.”
“But we have to go! We need to save our friend Kyungsoo!” Jongdae protests.
“Rushing to the aid of a friend in danger? You kids are fit to grow up into heroes,” Joonmyun responds. “If I can’t stop you guys, then at least let me try to give you guys some armor to protect yourselves.”
He steps away from the desk and rummages through the back storage. He returns with three dubious-looking items.
“Er...we don’t really make armor suited for kids your age, so this is the best I can offer right now…”
He passes one to each boy, and they accept it with raised eyebrows.
“Are these...capes?” Baekhyun notes while inspecting the piece of clothing.
“But they aren’t just regular capes! They’re capes made by the renowned Kim family!” Joonmyun responds with pride.
Jongdae quickly covers Chanyeol’s mouth before he can add any more comments.
“Thanks a lot Joonmyun-hyung!! I’m sure these will help us out on our journey very much!” Jongdae declares with gratitude.
He drags his other two friends outside with him as Joonmyun-hyung waves them off.
“Good luck kids! Be safe!”
Once outside, the children regroup with their newfound knowledge and armor.
“So my hunch from earlier is right. We need to get the triforce to return home. And when we find the triforce, we also find Kyungsoo,” Jongdae concludes.
“But we still don’t know where to even start. Which direction does your gut tell us we should go this time, hero?” Chanyeol inquires.
Jongdae lightly flushes at the nickname. He really doesn’t know where to go to from here. Despite always daydreaming about fighting forces of darkness, he feels so ordinary now that it’s actually happening to him. But he can’t show his fear. He has to be strong for his friends who are depending on him.
“My gut feeling says we should go that way!” he points out with his wooden sword.
The three friends walk along the road with their new capes around their necks swishing in the wind. Jongdae contemplates further on their next course of action. Tao is the one who has caused everything so far, right? What would he be doing in this world? And speak of the devil, the six-year-old bad guy makes his appearance.
The signature gusts of wind blow around them again as Tao appears in front of them accompanied with a puff of smoke. Before Jongdae can even open his mouth to say anything, Baekhyun rushes forward.
“Tao-yah!” he calls out. “Tao-yah, I’m sorry!! I’m sorry for making fun of you! It’s okay if you don’t forgive me, but please don’t hurt Kyungsoo or any of the others! You can take out your anger on me! Just don’t hurt the others!”
“I think it’s a little too late for apologies Sogogi…You didn’t seem so sorry these past few days!”
“Where’s Kyungsoo?!” Chanyeol barks.
“Oh, don’t worry. He’s fine. He’s just hanging around with Sehunnie right now,” Tao replies with a smirk.
“Well, give him back!”
“But where’s the fun in that? If you want to find Kyungsoo, then you guys will have to come find me. Have fun!”
The gusts of wind disappear along with Tao. The three boys ponder about the situation and what to do next, but a small weight fell from their shoulders when they heard that Kyungsoo was still safe and reachable.
The situation is reminiscent of one of Jongdae’s particular fairy tales. In that tale, the civilians-turned-heroes sought out legendary weapons to give them the power they needed to save their kingdom. Jongdae considers this new thought…
Chanyeol reaches for the friendship bracelet on his left wrist. He had gifted Kyungsoo with a similar one for his birthday. He misses his friend’s presence and softly fiddles with the bracelet.
“Kyungsoo-yah, where are you...?” he whispers softly to himself.
The three friends continue to mull over the situation when a voice suddenly cuts in their trains of thought.
“Chan-Chanyeol-ah, is that you?”
The three heads shoot up at the sound of the familiar voice.
“Kyungsoo-yah, is that you?!” Chanyeol yells as he frantically looks around for the source of the voice. “Do you guys hear him too?” he asked the other two.
“Kyungsoo-yah, it’s us! It’s chinguline! Where are you right now? Are you okay?” Jongdae frantically questions.
“I-I’m not sure. I’ve been stuck in this weird cage thing somewhere in a castle. Sehun has been coming by to talk with and to check up on me. I’m not hurt or anything.”
“We’re gonna come find and get you!” Baekhyun pipes up. “But we need your help too! Did Sehun say anything in particular to you that could help us?”
“Well…he never mentioned anything about where we are, but I did overhear him and Tao talking about something once…”
“And what was that?” Jongdae questions.
“They were talking about some kind of legendary master sword…apparently it’s near Sehun’s house?”
Jongdae’s eyes widen at his words.
“That’s good, Kyungsoo-yah! That actually helps us out a lot! Is there anything else you can tell us?”
“I don’t think--wait. Wait, I hear footsteps. I think Sehun is coming back. We need to stop communicating before he finds out!”
“Wait, Kyungsoo-yah! Kyungsoo-yah!” the boys call out.
They unfortunately do not receive a response. However, they reassemble with the new pieces of information that Kyungsoo gave them.
“Guys, we need to head over to Sehun’s house next,” Jongdae starts. “He doesn’t live very far from from me, and I know the way!”
The three boys dash off with Jongdae in the lead. The communication that they received from their fourth friend invigorates their spirits.
---
They arrive at the area Sehun’s house should be in, panting and catching their breaths.
“Guys! I think there’s something over there!” Baekhyun pants as he points.
They all turn to the direction he pointed in and see the legendary blade resting within a low pedestal.
“Is it just me, or is there a faint ring of light surrounding that thing…?” Chanyeol rhetorically asks.
“That’s it, guys…That’s the master sword!” Jongdae exclaims with awe. “It usually chooses its master and only allows the courageous ones who wield it!”
The three boys surround the pedestal and look on with wonder.
“Well, go on, Jongdae-yah,” Chanyeol remarks.
“What?! You want me to try and pull it out?” Jongdae sputters.
“You’ve been the most courageous out of us since we ended up in this world. It’s gotta be you.”
Jongdae looks at the encouraging smiles on his friends’ faces and comes to his decision. After all, this sword must hold the key to defeating Tao. He slowly walks up to the pedestal and takes a deep breath. But the moment his hands touch the sword’s hilt, the ground begins to shake.
“Is it Tao again?!” Chanyeol howls.
However, something unexpected makes its appearance. The ground in front of them opens up and reveals a mini-griffin beast.
“Wha-what is that thing?!” Baekhyun cries out.
The creature flaps its large wings, creating gusts of wind that knock the boys back.
“Guys, we need to defeat it! Let’s split up!” Jongdae commands.
Chanyeol runs off to the side while Baekhyun runs towards a tree. Jongdae breaks away and attempts to stab the creature with his wooden sword. The creature shrieks in pain and flaps its wings again to shake Jongdae off. Chanyeol lets out a war cry as he charges forward with his staff. The griffin easily knocks him away with one of its claws and starts to round up on Chanyeol. Baekhyun begins to pelt rocks at it from atop a tree in an attempt to distract it from his friends. The creature might not be a full-fledged griffin, but at this rate, the boys don’t seem to stand a chance.
Jongdae suddenly remembers another fact from one of his fairy tales. Griffins have a weakness: their left hind leg.
“Guys! Aim for its left hind leg!” he shouts out to his companions.
However, those words prove easier said than done. The boys run around in circles around the griffin, attempting to attack its hind leg while simultaneously avoiding attacks from its claws and wings.
Baekhyun suddenly trips, and the griffin turns its attention onto him. He can’t seem to get up and can only look up at the approaching beast in fear.
“NO! BAEKHYUN-AH!” Chanyeol bellows out.
He lets out a desperate cry as he rushes forward to save his friend from the beast. Flames begin to ignite from his staff as he successfully stabs the creature in its weak spot. The griffin howls out in pain before disintegrating into a pile of ashes.
Chanyeol scrambles to Baekhyun’s side, and Jongdae looks on with his mouth hanging open.
“What…what just happened?” he asks out loud. “Chanyeol-ah, is there something that you’re not telling us…?”
Chanyeol scrunches his eyebrows in confusion at Jongdae before his eyes widen as he remembers what his staff just did.
“No! No, I don’t have any secret powers!” the boy defends. “I-I just really wanted to defeat the thing before it hurt Baekhyunnie. That’s all!”
Jongdae squints his eyes at Chanyeol and then squints his at the staff he wields.
“Can you do whatever you did before with your staff again?”
Chanyeol takes a look at his staff before raising it and deliberately shaking it. He squeals and steps back in surprise as sparks of fire emit through the head of the staff.
“Whoa…” Baekhyun remarks. “You have fire powers…”
Jongdae, however, frowns at the show.
“Chanyeol-ah, maybe you should try to get the master sword instead,” he mutters.
“What? No, I still think you should take it, Jongdae-yah!”
“But you’re the one with new powers. And did you see what happened when I tried to touch the sword?...”
“Well, of course that happened! Aren’t there always weird beasts guarding everything important in those fairy tales that you read?” Chanyeol shoots back. “Jongdae-yah, it’s definitely supposed to be you. You’ll probably end up having even cooler powers than me.”
Baekhyun nods and agrees with his words. So after another unanimous nomination, Jongdae steps up to the pedestal. He takes another deep breath and slowly grabs the hilt of the sword. When no other obstacles appear again, he focuses all his strength into his arms and legs. The ring of light begins to converge into the sword and the legendary blade easily slides out.
“You did it, Jongdae-yah!” Chanyeol cheers as the light begins to fade away.
“I thought I’m supposed to feel more powerful with the master sword…How come I don’t feel anything?” Jongdae remarks with a frown.
“It’s okay! I don’t feel any more powerful with this fire-wielding staff either!”
Jongdae swings his sword back and forth slowly, disappointed in its apparent lack of powers. He even charges forward into an open space with a loud war cry.
“Maybe its powers will reveal themselves when the right time comes. Just like my staff did,” Chanyeol consoles.
Baekhyun alternates looking between his two friends and smiles at their newfound weapons. However, deep down, he kicks himself for being so useless. Everything was his fault, and he couldn’t even do anything to help them…
“Kyungsoo-yah! Kyungsoo-yah!” Chanyeol’s voice booms as he attempts to call their friend again through his friendship bracelet. He pouts when no response comes. “D-do you guys think he’s…”
“No!” Jongdae interjects. “Kyungsoo is perfectly fine right now! He wouldn’t go down without a fight. Have some more faith in him! I’m sure he has faith in us right now. And let’s not let him down.”
“You’re right, Jongdae-yah! Let’s go rescue him now!” Chanyeol replies. “So where do you think we should go next?”
Instead of relying on his gut feeling this time, Jongdae reassesses the entire situation and attempts to draw connections. It seemed that every time they went to a familiar landmark, they encountered events that helped them progress on the journey. The park, my house, Sehun’s house… A light suddenly springs on in his head, and their final destination becomes too obvious.
“We’re heading to Tao’s house,” Jongdae firmly declares.
---
“Well, I think we’re in the right place…so much for a house…” Chanyeol mutters.
The boys all gawk at the castle, equipped with a full surrounding gate, standing tall in front of them. Of course Tao would reside in a castle. Of course he would.
“After you, Jongdae-yah, oh great master sword-wielding hero,” Chanyeol teases.
Jongdae rolls his eyes at him before pushing open the gate. Of course Tao would also leave the gate unlocked. Despite this being the (hopefully) final part of their journey, Jongdae does not feel well-prepared for what’s to come. The kids encountered evil-overturned animals that Joonmyun-hyung had previously mentioned on their way to Tao’s castle. Jongdae’s master sword failed to illustrate any special powers, and they usually resorted to depending on Chanyeol’s fire staff to finish the jobs. Contrary to the development of the heroes in fairy tales, Jongdae feels less and less heroic as their journey progresses. Did he not exhibit enough courage? Why is the master sword not cooperating with him? He takes one last look at Tao’s castle. Well, it’s too late to go back now…
The boys huddle up one last time and give each other final words of encouragement, reminding everyone of their goal. They steady themselves with deep breaths and proceed into the large castle.
The castle hall looks like a setting straight out of Jongdae’s fairy tale collections book. He almost forgets where he is and what he’s supposed to be doing while he gazes around and admires the details in person. Seeing everything live and up-close beats the pictures in his books, but before Jongdae can continue to appreciate the fine details, a loud pop at the top of the stairs in the middle of the hall catches his attention.
“Well hello, hyungs. I’m surprised you guys made it this far,” Sehun greets them.
“You! Where’s Kyungsoo and Tao?!” Chanyeol demands.
“Calm down, hyung. You’ll find the answers to all your questions later. But right now, I wanna see what kind of things you guys learned on your journey,” the youngest says deviously.
He snaps once and a cluster of strange, small, and plump pink creatures with long roots sprouting from their heads and friendly faces appear.
“Let’s see if you guys can get through this!” he cackles before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
“We’re supposed to kill those things??” Chanyeol asks incredulously. “But they’re so cute!”
One of the said cute creatures swiftly rotates the sprouts on its head, creating faux helicopter blades and rushing at Chanyeol through the air. He screeches in surprise and drops to the floor just in time.
“Never mind!” he squeaks.
All three kids split into different directions as the cute, but apparently dangerous, creatures fly all around the room and launching themselves at the boys.
Jongdae grips his sword before swinging at the creature coming his way. The creature just bounces off his blade and swirls right back around to him.
“How are we supposed to get these things??” Baekhyun complains as he runs up the stairs, dodging the pink creatures left and right.
Chanyeol’s flames also seemingly have no effect on the strange creatures, and the boys grow fearful of their predicament.
A particularly swift creature attacks Baekhyun’s ankles and knocks him off of his feet. He yelps in surprise and looks up to see the same one rushing back at him. He haphazardly stabs his sword at it. The creature convulses before disintegrating into dust. Baekhyun wheezes in lingering fear as he wonders what he did to defeat the pink creature.
“Wait, guys!” he calls out to his comrades. “I think they have a weakness! Try aiming for the middle of their bellies!”
Baekhyun’s advice proves effective, and the boys’ fear slowly dissipates and turns into bravery. They stab and slash their way through the creatures with firm control. But as the creatures’ numbers began to dwindle down, the remaining ones all cease their current actions and begin to convulse at the same time. They abruptly begin to converge together in the center of the castle hall and create a single large beast with functioning arms and feet.
“That one doesn’t look cute at all!” Chanyeol blurts out.
The large, pink and not-so-cute beast turns its attention onto Chanyeol and fires two of the small, precursor creatures at him. The action catches him off guard, and he falls back against the wall, unconscious.
It shoots another one at Jongdae in an attempt to subdue him. Jongdae, however, deflects the creature and starts sprinting up the stairs. To his dismay, the creature begins to convulse again and splits itself into two separate beasts. One of them goes after Baekhyun while the remaining flies up the stairs and attacks him head-on. He takes a tumble down the stairs and cries out in pain as he lands crookedly on his ankle and leg.
Meanwhile, Baekhyun dashes around while avoiding barrages from the beast. He eventually gets cornered into a wall. The creature takes one of its long sprouts and brings it down on Baekhyun. He receives the blow with his wooden sword and falls onto his back. He continues to block the creature’s sprouts from the ground and looks around desperately for help, but only finds an unconscious Chanyeol and a subdued Jongdae on the ground clutching at his leg. The other creature takes advantage of Jongdae’s state and begins to round up on him.
Baekhyun clenches his eyes shut as he continues to hold the creature off on him. He only wants them to rescue Kyungsoo and return home. He only wants to help. Why was he feeling so useless?
And his plea seems to get answered when his sword begins to glow. He opens his eyes and gasps as rays of light begin emitting from the sword. He suddenly feels a burst of energy and with one harsh push, he flings the creature off of him and sends it crashing to the castle walls and into dust. He rushes to Jongdae’s aid with his still-glowing sword and lunges forward to stab through its back before it can harm his friend. The final creature shakes violently and bursts into sand.
Baekhyun runs to Jongdae to check his leg injury. The injured boy watches his friend in wonder. Baekhyun lightly touches the leg and Jongdae flinches back in alarm at the light that begins to emit from his friend’s palms. The bruises on the leg mysteriously disappear.
“Baekhyun-ah, what did you just do…?”
“I-I don’t know, I just…” the boy’s emitted light slowly dims and fades away.
Jongdae slowly gets up on his feet and lightly hops up and down.
“Wah! Baekhyun-ah, you just healed me!!” Jongdae proclaims. “Can you go heal Chanyeollie, too?”
“I-I guess I can try…”
They both approach the unconscious boy on the other side of the hall. Baekhyun dubiously places his hands on Chanyeol’s head and gasps at the light that emits from them. Chanyeol’s eyes slowly open and he looks up at his two friends.
“Wha-what just happened?” he asks groggily.
“Baekhyunnie here has the best power ever and defeated the monsters! That’s what happened!” Jongdae enthusiastically replies. “He can attack and heal!”
Baekhyun blushes at his bold statements.
“And I missed it all? Wow, you’re awesome, Baekhyun-ah! Thanks for healing me, too!”
After the bouts of encouragements and hugs, the friends remember their final task. They also remember their last friend and mentally prepares themselves for whatever else lies waiting for them beyond the double doors of the castle hall.
“Come out and show yourself guys! Tao-yah! Sehun-ah!” Jongdae yells out to the empty room.
His yells are answered as the two boys materialize into the room.
“Wow, hyungs. You guys made it this far!” Sehun mocks.
“We did! Now where’s Kyungsoo??” Baekhyun retorts.
Tao snaps once and a cage holding their friend materializes in the air.
“KYUNGSOO-YAH!” the boys shout simultaneously.
The last chinguline member is sitting on the ground of the cage and turns around at his friends’ calls while in the middle of chewing a sandwich.
“Oh, hey guys,” he responds through a mouth full of food.
“What? That’s all you have to say?” Chanyeol says with mild agitation. “We’ve been fighting our butts off for you and you’re just sitting there eating a freaking sandwich and not happy to see us at all?!”
“Sorry…” Kyungsoo replies quietly. “But Sehunnie’s been taking good care of me. He’s been feeding me good food. Plus, I think Tao is kind of justified for being so mad at Baekhyun. I told you to stop making fun of him, didn’t I?”
The other three chinguline members drop their jaws at the sudden turn of events. Did their reason for fighting suddenly turn its back on them?
“Enough of the chit chat!” Tao barks. “Aren’t you guys looking for this?” he says as he summons the triforce into his hands (still equipped with the label: THE TRIFORCE on it).
“Tao-yah!” Sehun calls. “Be careful with that!”
“Shut up!! I’m tired of you guys belittling me! I can do whatever I want with this!”
He grabs the triforce and absorbs it into himself. His body begins to shake uncontrollably, and he shrieks out in pain as his body begins to grow and his skin turns blue. Two horns grow out of his head and hooves begin to form at his feet. After his transformation is complete, he resemble a giant blue bull. He lets out one final roar that echoes throughout the room. The rest of the boys stay frozen in place as the ox monster that is now Tao loudly huffs.
“...Uh-oh,” Chanyeol remarks.
Bull-Tao roars again and begins attacking everyone, including Sehun.
“Tao-yah! It’s me, Sehun! You can’t control the power of the triforce! It’s too much! Stop this right now before you seriously hurt everyone!”
Bull-Tao answers with another roar and swipes at Sehun, who dodges as the blow hits the wall. Kyungsoo’s cage comes crashing down to the ground, and the boy gets up from the debris, coughing from the flying dust particles.
“BYUN BAEKHYUN!” he roars himself. “Don’t you dare ever make fun of Tao ever again!!”
The rest of the crowd quickly disperses as Bull-Tao continues stomping around in rage, dangerously sending castle bricks flying everywhere. Chanyeol and Baekhyun harness their powered weapons to attack while Sehun continues to be on the defensive while attempting to talk sense into Tao. Even Kyungsoo takes a piece of the cage debris and uses it to attack.
Jongdae is now the one to feel useless. If only his master sword actually worked…maybe he wasn’t meant to retrieve it…maybe he isn’t cut out to be a hero like he thought he was. But while he ponders in his thoughts, Bull-Tao continues on his violent rampage. A particularly strong punch to the wall near Jongdae shakes him out of his thoughts. He looks around to find his friends panting and fighting hard. Chanyeol grips at his shoulder with his non-staff-wielding hand while Baekhyun attempts to heal Sehun’s injuries. Kyungsoo continues to grip onto his metal rod while gritting his teeth.
Jongdae watches Kyungsoo strongly fight despite not wielding any powerful weapons like the others. He admires his friend’s fighting spirit and his dedication to defend his friends. And that’s when it clicks. Jongdae suddenly feels enlightened when he realizes that true power does not necessarily come from weapons or outside objects, but from within. Chanyeol and Baekhyun had awakened their powers by the sheer determination to defend their friends. It wasn’t because of a desire for power or wanting to become a hero. It was their inner and sincere ambition.
Jongdae tightly grips the master sword’s hilt with new cause and sets his sights on Bull-Tao. He knows that Tao is only in such a state because of the overwhelming power of the triforce inside him. If he somehow dispels that from him, then he could still save his friend and also return them home where they could peacefully sort things out. He feels a new power surging through him as he slowly steps forward with his sword.
Streaks of lightning begin to emerge from his sword, and he rushes forward with the built-up momentum. He jumps and takes one strong stab at Bull-Tao’s chest. The bull-like monster howls in pain as the lightning reinforces Jongdae’s blow. Bull-Tao begins to glow, and Jongdae flies back from the crushing amount of energy he begins to emit. He convulses uncontrollably again while becoming smaller and slowly returning to his human form. Right before the glowing ceases, the triforce dispels from his body and he falls on the ground unconscious.
“Baekhyun-ah!! Go heal him!” Jongdae commands.
Baekhyun is already running to the boy’s side before Jongdae can even finish his command. The rest of the boys silently plead to themselves as they circle around the two. Tao’s eyelids begin to flutter, and he looks up at his healer.
“Sogogi…?” he groggily asks as he rubs his eyes.
“TAO-YAH! You’re okay!” Sehun shouts in joy and takes his best friend into a bone-crushing hug.
“So you can attack and heal?” Kyungsoo directs towards Baekhyun. “Impressive.”
“C’mon, guys. Can we all have a proper chinguline reunion, please?” Chanyeol says as he swoops all three boys into a group hug.
Jongdae giggles into the hug, but slowly feels the physical and mental exhaustion of their whole journey. His vision begins to blur and slowly begins to fade. He hears his friends’ voices frantically calling out his name in the darkness.
“Jongdae-yah! Jongdae-yah! Wake up!”
---
“Jongdae-yah! Jongdae-yah, are you okay? Jongdae-yah…”
Jongdae slowly wakes up and has to allow his eyes to adjust to the artificial lights. He looks around and sees his chinguline surrounding him.
“Joonmyun-ah! Jongdae is awake now!” Yixing calls out of the room.
“Where am I…?” Jongdae asks no one in particular.
“Well, you’re in my house,” Chanyeol begins to explain. “On my sofa. And Joonmyun-hyung is on the phone with your parents. I think we might be in trouble…”
“Oh…is it because of what happened with Tao?”
“Kind of, not really,” Chanyeol replies. “It was our faults for teasing him in the first place, I guess. But then we had to go chase them…”
“Wait, what are you talking about?” Jongdae interjects.
“Our fairy tale game, silly,” Baekhyun responds. “Sehun and Tao thought it would be fun to take off with our triforce. Kyungsoo was really in character, so he chased after them right away. They ran out through the back door, and then the rest of us followed them,” Baekhyun informed him.
“But didn’t we get the triforce back?”
“Dude,” Kyungsoo deadpanned. “You fell and hit your head the minute we tried to scale up Chanyeol’s backyard fence.”
“Jongdae-yah!!” their babysitter calls out. “Don’t ever scare me like that ever again! I think your concussion took a few years off of my life.”
Jongdae’s mind begins to process everything as Joonmyun-hyung sweeps him into a hug. A concussion? Does that mean that everything that just happened, the strange world, the master sword, and bull-Tao, wasn’t real?... The seven-year-old isn’t sure if he should be relieved or sad. But he looks around to chinguline, Tao and Sehun, and Yixing-hyung, and there is one thing that he’s sure of. He’s glad to be back safely with his friends.
Later that night when Jongdae starts his routine fairy tale reading (after he received a long earful from his parents about playing recklessly), he notices a certain item in the corner of his room. He picks up the familiar-looking cape wonder where it came from. Nonetheless, he happily straps the cape on before he jumps into his bed, pulls up the covers, and rereads the tale of the master sword.
Fin.
a/n: the title of this story should actually be: “authornim plays too much zelda.” but on a serious note, you better watch out byunbaek, tao might finally combust and go wushu on you one of these days. also, griffins don’t really have a weakness. i just made that up for the sake of chinguline…
also! joonmyun-hyung and yixing-hyung aren’t totally irresponsible babysitters. in their defense, chinguline and taohun didn’t make it very far before jongdae hit his head and went to lala land.
The three friends immediately sprint across the floor to the workroom in order to find their babysitter hyungs. Their kid instincts are the first things to kick in after processing everything that happened: find the nearest adult for help. To their dismay, they do not find their hyungs in the workroom.
“Did Tao and Sehun take them too??” Chanyeol bellows.
“Are we the only ones in the house now…?” Baekhyun timidly says.
Chanyeol runs over to the house phone in the room and attempts to dial Joonmyun-hyung’s cell phone number. However, the task proves futile because the phone line is dead.
“What’s going on here…?” he mumbles. “Let’s go check downstairs. The hyungs might be in kitchen.”
Baekhyun and Jongdae follow Chanyeol’s lead down the stairs, subconsciously huddling together. They cautiously take one step down at a time until the lights flicker and the house begins to shake again. The two boys bump into Chanyeol’s back when he abruptly stops.
“The weird things are happening again!! What are we supposed to do??” he panics.
Strong gusts of wind disperse throughout the room as a large black hole begins to appear at the bottom of the stairs. Before Jongdae or Baekhyun could answer Chanyeol’s panicking, the stairs suddenly morph into a slide, and the boys cry out in surprise as they fall onto their behinds and skid down into the black hole awaiting them.
The last thing they hear before the black hole engulfs them is the sound of Tao’s cackles in the distance.
---
Jongdae groans out loud as he slowly regains consciousness. He hears matching groans from his other two friends lying close by. He feels the hard dirt ground underneath him as he gets up and takes in the rest of his surroundings. The boys are no longer inside Chanyeol’s house. They perhaps aren’t even in their world anymore. The sky is dark and accompanied by swirling storm clouds. Run-down, medieval-looking houses line the streets, but despite the strange new setting, their surroundings seem a little familiar to Jongdae…
“Is everyone alright?” Chanyeol asks as he looks to both of his friends while rubbing the back of his head.
Jongdae gives a slow nod and Baekhyun returns with a quiet whimper as he gets on his feet. Silence covers them again as the seven-year-olds reprocess the strange new series of events. Chanyeol yelps in surprise as Jongdae pokes him on his side rather harshly with the toy sword that’s still in his hand.
“Sorry, man. I wanted to check this time too…” Jongdae apologizes with a sheepish grin.
Chanyeol glares at him and then joins Jongdae in reviewing their surroundings.
“Well, guys...I don’t think we’re in Seoul anymore.” he announces.
“Doesn’t everything look a bit familiar though? We look like we’re in the park near my neighborhood,” Jongdae contemplates. “All the tree and house placements are the same and everything!”
He points out random landmarks as Chanyeol ohhs at everything and replies with nods. The silence that the kids are now well-acquainted with slowly makes its return. Everything that has happened so far reminds Jongdae of elements in the fairy tale stories that he reads every night. If their situation now is anything like it is in his fairy tales, then the three boys are the heroes and Tao and Sehun are the bad guys who not only hold their friend hostage, but also hold the power to this world: the triforce.
It’s funny, because Jongdae feels anything but heroic right now. He’s an ordinary seven-year-old with no special powers or strengths. He suddenly identifies with the dwarf character in the tale he read a couple of nights ago, but then he also remembers how the dwarf took a stand for himself and eventually gained the courage to fight for his friends and saved their kingdom. After some quick reflection in his head, Kim Jongdae comes to his resolution. He clenches his fists and swings around to face his friends.
“All right, guys. I don’t know where we are right now and might not ever know it, but I do know that Kyungsoo is in trouble, and we have to go save him and go back home. If my knowledge of fairy tales helps me at all, then I think the triforce that Tao has holds the key to our returning home. Questions will constantly hit us, and obstacles may stand in our way, but that’s okay,” Jongdae declares with determination. “Because we’ll all be in this together.”
Chanyeol slowly claps with his mouth hanging open, and Baekhyun continues to stare blankly at Jongdae.
“Sometimes, the heroes in the stories follow their gut feelings when they don’t know what to do. And right now, my gut tells us to head in the direction of where my house should be. My house isn’t very far from the park, so it shouldn’t take us too long. Follow my lead, guys!”
Jongdae marches off, and Chanyeol enthusiastically follows right behind, having been motivated by Jongdae’s little speech. The two boys barely march five steps before they feel the absence of their last friend. They both turn around to see Baekhyun, feet still rooted in his spot. The boy had been awfully quiet ever since they landed in this strange world, which is very uncharacteristic of his beagle-like personality.
“Baekhyun-ah, what’s wrong?” Chanyeol inquires with concern.
Baekhyun doesn’t reply to his question and continues to stare down at the ground. Jongdae gently places his hands on Baekhyun’s shoulders and tries to coax him.
“Guys, I’m really scared…” the small boy murmurs. “And this is all my fault because I kept making fun of Tao…”
“Baekhyun-ah! Stop thinking that! This isn’t your fault! Mistakes happen,” Jongdae reassures him. “And don’t worry, I think we’re all scared here. I was just trying to channel the fairy tale heroes earlier when I made that speech. I’m really scared, too!”
“Yeah, Baekhyunnie, I’m scared too!” Chanyeol pipes up. “But like Jongdae said earlier, at least we’re all here together! Well, minus Kyungsoo...but that’s okay because we’re going to go save him! Together!”
Baekhyun looks back and forth at both of his friends before casting his head down again.
“C’mon, Baekhyun-ah! We can do this! You can do this!” Jongdae proclaims as he lifts Baekhyun’s head up. “You’re fearless, remember? You can do this! Chanyeollie and I are right here with you!”
Baekhyun peeks at his friends again, and slowly smiles at them. They were right. They’re in this together. And standing around feeling sorry for himself isn’t going to do anything for their predicament. Jongdae opened his hand towards him, and Baekhyun took it. Jongdae reassuringly squeezed his hand and smiled at him.
Feeling more united and renewed, the boys set off in the direction of Jongdae’s house. Jongdae leads the way and hopes that they’ll be able to find something, anything really, that will aid them.
Maybe-not-so-favorite part of his day featuring fairy tales, part two: start.
The children stare up at the building that occupies the space where Jongdae’s house should be. They surprisingly (and maybe thankfully) do not encounter any particular obstacles on their way here. No fire-breathing dragons to defeat or anything. But the boys have already learned to be careful of what they wish for…
The building looks different from the other ones that they saw on their way to Jongdae’s house. There are presumed signs of life in the house as seen through the active smoke coming out of the chimney. The thought of meeting other humans besides them in the world both scares and excites them. Will this person be able to help them? Will this person end up harming them? Is this alleged person even a human to begin with?
Before their minds start to wander dangerously, Baekhyun cuts their trains of thought.
“Should we...knock?”
“You can do the honors, Jongdae. It’s supposed to be your house.”
Jongdae sighs at the two and walks up to the door with them huddling behind. He knocks loudly three times in succession.
“Come in!” a voice calls from inside.
The kids all jump at the voice. They aren’t sure what they were expecting. Jongdae clenches his fists again and slowly turns the door knob to walk inside. Their eyes all grow wide at the interior of the house. Various types of weapons and armors hang on display on the wall and also behind the desk that an older boy occupies. However, the said older boy looks very familiar…
“Joonmyun-hyung!” the boys shout simultaneously.
They run behind the desk to embrace the older male, wails of relief accompanying them. The Joonmyun-hyung look-a-like hesitantly returns their bone-crushing hugs with light pats on the back.
“Um, hi there guys. Do I know you kids?” he asks. “How do you all know my name?”
The kids retreat from the male with frowns on their faces. Who is this imposter that looks exactly identical to their favorite hyung? Well, minus the light mustache and peach fuzz around his face.
“If you’re not our babysitter, then who are you?” Chanyeol cautiously questions.
“I’m Joonmyun, and I run the armory in this town. Although I strangely haven’t had any customers since I opened today. It’s like no one else is here in town right now. I wonder if something happened…The weather has been horrible and the skies have been awfully dark and gloomy all day. The last time this happened, it was when my great-great-grandfather was around my age and ran this armory himself.”
“A-and what happened back then?” Baekhyun stammers out.
“The triforce was stolen. It ruined the balance and peace of our kingdom. Animals were overturned with evil, and it was like a warzone everywhere outside. People looted and had to carry around weapons with them. It was every man for himself.”
“Oh my goodness, it’s actually happening guys. The triforce being stolen, this strange world, everything! We’re living out a fairy tale right now where magic and evil creatures exists! I will never question the events in your fairy tales ever again, Jongdae,” Chanyeol says in dismay. “Joonmyun-hyung! You have to help us out!!”
“Well, I think you kids are a little too young to be wandering around by yourselves. I can’t leave the armory, but you kids can stay here with me if you all would like. Coming from a family of armor and weapon specialists, I know a thing or two about handling a sword.”
“But we have to go! We need to save our friend Kyungsoo!” Jongdae protests.
“Rushing to the aid of a friend in danger? You kids are fit to grow up into heroes,” Joonmyun responds. “If I can’t stop you guys, then at least let me try to give you guys some armor to protect yourselves.”
He steps away from the desk and rummages through the back storage. He returns with three dubious-looking items.
“Er...we don’t really make armor suited for kids your age, so this is the best I can offer right now…”
He passes one to each boy, and they accept it with raised eyebrows.
“Are these...capes?” Baekhyun notes while inspecting the piece of clothing.
“But they aren’t just regular capes! They’re capes made by the renowned Kim family!” Joonmyun responds with pride.
Jongdae quickly covers Chanyeol’s mouth before he can add any more comments.
“Thanks a lot Joonmyun-hyung!! I’m sure these will help us out on our journey very much!” Jongdae declares with gratitude.
He drags his other two friends outside with him as Joonmyun-hyung waves them off.
“Good luck kids! Be safe!”
Once outside, the children regroup with their newfound knowledge and armor.
“So my hunch from earlier is right. We need to get the triforce to return home. And when we find the triforce, we also find Kyungsoo,” Jongdae concludes.
“But we still don’t know where to even start. Which direction does your gut tell us we should go this time, hero?” Chanyeol inquires.
Jongdae lightly flushes at the nickname. He really doesn’t know where to go to from here. Despite always daydreaming about fighting forces of darkness, he feels so ordinary now that it’s actually happening to him. But he can’t show his fear. He has to be strong for his friends who are depending on him.
“My gut feeling says we should go that way!” he points out with his wooden sword.
The three friends walk along the road with their new capes around their necks swishing in the wind. Jongdae contemplates further on their next course of action. Tao is the one who has caused everything so far, right? What would he be doing in this world? And speak of the devil, the six-year-old bad guy makes his appearance.
The signature gusts of wind blow around them again as Tao appears in front of them accompanied with a puff of smoke. Before Jongdae can even open his mouth to say anything, Baekhyun rushes forward.
“Tao-yah!” he calls out. “Tao-yah, I’m sorry!! I’m sorry for making fun of you! It’s okay if you don’t forgive me, but please don’t hurt Kyungsoo or any of the others! You can take out your anger on me! Just don’t hurt the others!”
“I think it’s a little too late for apologies Sogogi…You didn’t seem so sorry these past few days!”
“Where’s Kyungsoo?!” Chanyeol barks.
“Oh, don’t worry. He’s fine. He’s just hanging around with Sehunnie right now,” Tao replies with a smirk.
“Well, give him back!”
“But where’s the fun in that? If you want to find Kyungsoo, then you guys will have to come find me. Have fun!”
The gusts of wind disappear along with Tao. The three boys ponder about the situation and what to do next, but a small weight fell from their shoulders when they heard that Kyungsoo was still safe and reachable.
The situation is reminiscent of one of Jongdae’s particular fairy tales. In that tale, the civilians-turned-heroes sought out legendary weapons to give them the power they needed to save their kingdom. Jongdae considers this new thought…
Chanyeol reaches for the friendship bracelet on his left wrist. He had gifted Kyungsoo with a similar one for his birthday. He misses his friend’s presence and softly fiddles with the bracelet.
“Kyungsoo-yah, where are you...?” he whispers softly to himself.
The three friends continue to mull over the situation when a voice suddenly cuts in their trains of thought.
“Chan-Chanyeol-ah, is that you?”
The three heads shoot up at the sound of the familiar voice.
“Kyungsoo-yah, is that you?!” Chanyeol yells as he frantically looks around for the source of the voice. “Do you guys hear him too?” he asked the other two.
“Kyungsoo-yah, it’s us! It’s chinguline! Where are you right now? Are you okay?” Jongdae frantically questions.
“I-I’m not sure. I’ve been stuck in this weird cage thing somewhere in a castle. Sehun has been coming by to talk with and to check up on me. I’m not hurt or anything.”
“We’re gonna come find and get you!” Baekhyun pipes up. “But we need your help too! Did Sehun say anything in particular to you that could help us?”
“Well…he never mentioned anything about where we are, but I did overhear him and Tao talking about something once…”
“And what was that?” Jongdae questions.
“They were talking about some kind of legendary master sword…apparently it’s near Sehun’s house?”
Jongdae’s eyes widen at his words.
“That’s good, Kyungsoo-yah! That actually helps us out a lot! Is there anything else you can tell us?”
“I don’t think--wait. Wait, I hear footsteps. I think Sehun is coming back. We need to stop communicating before he finds out!”
“Wait, Kyungsoo-yah! Kyungsoo-yah!” the boys call out.
They unfortunately do not receive a response. However, they reassemble with the new pieces of information that Kyungsoo gave them.
“Guys, we need to head over to Sehun’s house next,” Jongdae starts. “He doesn’t live very far from from me, and I know the way!”
The three boys dash off with Jongdae in the lead. The communication that they received from their fourth friend invigorates their spirits.
---
They arrive at the area Sehun’s house should be in, panting and catching their breaths.
“Guys! I think there’s something over there!” Baekhyun pants as he points.
They all turn to the direction he pointed in and see the legendary blade resting within a low pedestal.
“Is it just me, or is there a faint ring of light surrounding that thing…?” Chanyeol rhetorically asks.
“That’s it, guys…That’s the master sword!” Jongdae exclaims with awe. “It usually chooses its master and only allows the courageous ones who wield it!”
The three boys surround the pedestal and look on with wonder.
“Well, go on, Jongdae-yah,” Chanyeol remarks.
“What?! You want me to try and pull it out?” Jongdae sputters.
“You’ve been the most courageous out of us since we ended up in this world. It’s gotta be you.”
Jongdae looks at the encouraging smiles on his friends’ faces and comes to his decision. After all, this sword must hold the key to defeating Tao. He slowly walks up to the pedestal and takes a deep breath. But the moment his hands touch the sword’s hilt, the ground begins to shake.
“Is it Tao again?!” Chanyeol howls.
However, something unexpected makes its appearance. The ground in front of them opens up and reveals a mini-griffin beast.
“Wha-what is that thing?!” Baekhyun cries out.
The creature flaps its large wings, creating gusts of wind that knock the boys back.
“Guys, we need to defeat it! Let’s split up!” Jongdae commands.
Chanyeol runs off to the side while Baekhyun runs towards a tree. Jongdae breaks away and attempts to stab the creature with his wooden sword. The creature shrieks in pain and flaps its wings again to shake Jongdae off. Chanyeol lets out a war cry as he charges forward with his staff. The griffin easily knocks him away with one of its claws and starts to round up on Chanyeol. Baekhyun begins to pelt rocks at it from atop a tree in an attempt to distract it from his friends. The creature might not be a full-fledged griffin, but at this rate, the boys don’t seem to stand a chance.
Jongdae suddenly remembers another fact from one of his fairy tales. Griffins have a weakness: their left hind leg.
“Guys! Aim for its left hind leg!” he shouts out to his companions.
However, those words prove easier said than done. The boys run around in circles around the griffin, attempting to attack its hind leg while simultaneously avoiding attacks from its claws and wings.
Baekhyun suddenly trips, and the griffin turns its attention onto him. He can’t seem to get up and can only look up at the approaching beast in fear.
“NO! BAEKHYUN-AH!” Chanyeol bellows out.
He lets out a desperate cry as he rushes forward to save his friend from the beast. Flames begin to ignite from his staff as he successfully stabs the creature in its weak spot. The griffin howls out in pain before disintegrating into a pile of ashes.
Chanyeol scrambles to Baekhyun’s side, and Jongdae looks on with his mouth hanging open.
“What…what just happened?” he asks out loud. “Chanyeol-ah, is there something that you’re not telling us…?”
Chanyeol scrunches his eyebrows in confusion at Jongdae before his eyes widen as he remembers what his staff just did.
“No! No, I don’t have any secret powers!” the boy defends. “I-I just really wanted to defeat the thing before it hurt Baekhyunnie. That’s all!”
Jongdae squints his eyes at Chanyeol and then squints his at the staff he wields.
“Can you do whatever you did before with your staff again?”
Chanyeol takes a look at his staff before raising it and deliberately shaking it. He squeals and steps back in surprise as sparks of fire emit through the head of the staff.
“Whoa…” Baekhyun remarks. “You have fire powers…”
Jongdae, however, frowns at the show.
“Chanyeol-ah, maybe you should try to get the master sword instead,” he mutters.
“What? No, I still think you should take it, Jongdae-yah!”
“But you’re the one with new powers. And did you see what happened when I tried to touch the sword?...”
“Well, of course that happened! Aren’t there always weird beasts guarding everything important in those fairy tales that you read?” Chanyeol shoots back. “Jongdae-yah, it’s definitely supposed to be you. You’ll probably end up having even cooler powers than me.”
Baekhyun nods and agrees with his words. So after another unanimous nomination, Jongdae steps up to the pedestal. He takes another deep breath and slowly grabs the hilt of the sword. When no other obstacles appear again, he focuses all his strength into his arms and legs. The ring of light begins to converge into the sword and the legendary blade easily slides out.
“You did it, Jongdae-yah!” Chanyeol cheers as the light begins to fade away.
“I thought I’m supposed to feel more powerful with the master sword…How come I don’t feel anything?” Jongdae remarks with a frown.
“It’s okay! I don’t feel any more powerful with this fire-wielding staff either!”
Jongdae swings his sword back and forth slowly, disappointed in its apparent lack of powers. He even charges forward into an open space with a loud war cry.
“Maybe its powers will reveal themselves when the right time comes. Just like my staff did,” Chanyeol consoles.
Baekhyun alternates looking between his two friends and smiles at their newfound weapons. However, deep down, he kicks himself for being so useless. Everything was his fault, and he couldn’t even do anything to help them…
“Kyungsoo-yah! Kyungsoo-yah!” Chanyeol’s voice booms as he attempts to call their friend again through his friendship bracelet. He pouts when no response comes. “D-do you guys think he’s…”
“No!” Jongdae interjects. “Kyungsoo is perfectly fine right now! He wouldn’t go down without a fight. Have some more faith in him! I’m sure he has faith in us right now. And let’s not let him down.”
“You’re right, Jongdae-yah! Let’s go rescue him now!” Chanyeol replies. “So where do you think we should go next?”
Instead of relying on his gut feeling this time, Jongdae reassesses the entire situation and attempts to draw connections. It seemed that every time they went to a familiar landmark, they encountered events that helped them progress on the journey. The park, my house, Sehun’s house… A light suddenly springs on in his head, and their final destination becomes too obvious.
“We’re heading to Tao’s house,” Jongdae firmly declares.
---
“Well, I think we’re in the right place…so much for a house…” Chanyeol mutters.
The boys all gawk at the castle, equipped with a full surrounding gate, standing tall in front of them. Of course Tao would reside in a castle. Of course he would.
“After you, Jongdae-yah, oh great master sword-wielding hero,” Chanyeol teases.
Jongdae rolls his eyes at him before pushing open the gate. Of course Tao would also leave the gate unlocked. Despite this being the (hopefully) final part of their journey, Jongdae does not feel well-prepared for what’s to come. The kids encountered evil-overturned animals that Joonmyun-hyung had previously mentioned on their way to Tao’s castle. Jongdae’s master sword failed to illustrate any special powers, and they usually resorted to depending on Chanyeol’s fire staff to finish the jobs. Contrary to the development of the heroes in fairy tales, Jongdae feels less and less heroic as their journey progresses. Did he not exhibit enough courage? Why is the master sword not cooperating with him? He takes one last look at Tao’s castle. Well, it’s too late to go back now…
The boys huddle up one last time and give each other final words of encouragement, reminding everyone of their goal. They steady themselves with deep breaths and proceed into the large castle.
The castle hall looks like a setting straight out of Jongdae’s fairy tale collections book. He almost forgets where he is and what he’s supposed to be doing while he gazes around and admires the details in person. Seeing everything live and up-close beats the pictures in his books, but before Jongdae can continue to appreciate the fine details, a loud pop at the top of the stairs in the middle of the hall catches his attention.
“Well hello, hyungs. I’m surprised you guys made it this far,” Sehun greets them.
“You! Where’s Kyungsoo and Tao?!” Chanyeol demands.
“Calm down, hyung. You’ll find the answers to all your questions later. But right now, I wanna see what kind of things you guys learned on your journey,” the youngest says deviously.
He snaps once and a cluster of strange, small, and plump pink creatures with long roots sprouting from their heads and friendly faces appear.
“Let’s see if you guys can get through this!” he cackles before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
“We’re supposed to kill those things??” Chanyeol asks incredulously. “But they’re so cute!”
One of the said cute creatures swiftly rotates the sprouts on its head, creating faux helicopter blades and rushing at Chanyeol through the air. He screeches in surprise and drops to the floor just in time.
“Never mind!” he squeaks.
All three kids split into different directions as the cute, but apparently dangerous, creatures fly all around the room and launching themselves at the boys.
Jongdae grips his sword before swinging at the creature coming his way. The creature just bounces off his blade and swirls right back around to him.
“How are we supposed to get these things??” Baekhyun complains as he runs up the stairs, dodging the pink creatures left and right.
Chanyeol’s flames also seemingly have no effect on the strange creatures, and the boys grow fearful of their predicament.
A particularly swift creature attacks Baekhyun’s ankles and knocks him off of his feet. He yelps in surprise and looks up to see the same one rushing back at him. He haphazardly stabs his sword at it. The creature convulses before disintegrating into dust. Baekhyun wheezes in lingering fear as he wonders what he did to defeat the pink creature.
“Wait, guys!” he calls out to his comrades. “I think they have a weakness! Try aiming for the middle of their bellies!”
Baekhyun’s advice proves effective, and the boys’ fear slowly dissipates and turns into bravery. They stab and slash their way through the creatures with firm control. But as the creatures’ numbers began to dwindle down, the remaining ones all cease their current actions and begin to convulse at the same time. They abruptly begin to converge together in the center of the castle hall and create a single large beast with functioning arms and feet.
“That one doesn’t look cute at all!” Chanyeol blurts out.
The large, pink and not-so-cute beast turns its attention onto Chanyeol and fires two of the small, precursor creatures at him. The action catches him off guard, and he falls back against the wall, unconscious.
It shoots another one at Jongdae in an attempt to subdue him. Jongdae, however, deflects the creature and starts sprinting up the stairs. To his dismay, the creature begins to convulse again and splits itself into two separate beasts. One of them goes after Baekhyun while the remaining flies up the stairs and attacks him head-on. He takes a tumble down the stairs and cries out in pain as he lands crookedly on his ankle and leg.
Meanwhile, Baekhyun dashes around while avoiding barrages from the beast. He eventually gets cornered into a wall. The creature takes one of its long sprouts and brings it down on Baekhyun. He receives the blow with his wooden sword and falls onto his back. He continues to block the creature’s sprouts from the ground and looks around desperately for help, but only finds an unconscious Chanyeol and a subdued Jongdae on the ground clutching at his leg. The other creature takes advantage of Jongdae’s state and begins to round up on him.
Baekhyun clenches his eyes shut as he continues to hold the creature off on him. He only wants them to rescue Kyungsoo and return home. He only wants to help. Why was he feeling so useless?
And his plea seems to get answered when his sword begins to glow. He opens his eyes and gasps as rays of light begin emitting from the sword. He suddenly feels a burst of energy and with one harsh push, he flings the creature off of him and sends it crashing to the castle walls and into dust. He rushes to Jongdae’s aid with his still-glowing sword and lunges forward to stab through its back before it can harm his friend. The final creature shakes violently and bursts into sand.
Baekhyun runs to Jongdae to check his leg injury. The injured boy watches his friend in wonder. Baekhyun lightly touches the leg and Jongdae flinches back in alarm at the light that begins to emit from his friend’s palms. The bruises on the leg mysteriously disappear.
“Baekhyun-ah, what did you just do…?”
“I-I don’t know, I just…” the boy’s emitted light slowly dims and fades away.
Jongdae slowly gets up on his feet and lightly hops up and down.
“Wah! Baekhyun-ah, you just healed me!!” Jongdae proclaims. “Can you go heal Chanyeollie, too?”
“I-I guess I can try…”
They both approach the unconscious boy on the other side of the hall. Baekhyun dubiously places his hands on Chanyeol’s head and gasps at the light that emits from them. Chanyeol’s eyes slowly open and he looks up at his two friends.
“Wha-what just happened?” he asks groggily.
“Baekhyunnie here has the best power ever and defeated the monsters! That’s what happened!” Jongdae enthusiastically replies. “He can attack and heal!”
Baekhyun blushes at his bold statements.
“And I missed it all? Wow, you’re awesome, Baekhyun-ah! Thanks for healing me, too!”
After the bouts of encouragements and hugs, the friends remember their final task. They also remember their last friend and mentally prepares themselves for whatever else lies waiting for them beyond the double doors of the castle hall.
“Come out and show yourself guys! Tao-yah! Sehun-ah!” Jongdae yells out to the empty room.
His yells are answered as the two boys materialize into the room.
“Wow, hyungs. You guys made it this far!” Sehun mocks.
“We did! Now where’s Kyungsoo??” Baekhyun retorts.
Tao snaps once and a cage holding their friend materializes in the air.
“KYUNGSOO-YAH!” the boys shout simultaneously.
The last chinguline member is sitting on the ground of the cage and turns around at his friends’ calls while in the middle of chewing a sandwich.
“Oh, hey guys,” he responds through a mouth full of food.
“What? That’s all you have to say?” Chanyeol says with mild agitation. “We’ve been fighting our butts off for you and you’re just sitting there eating a freaking sandwich and not happy to see us at all?!”
“Sorry…” Kyungsoo replies quietly. “But Sehunnie’s been taking good care of me. He’s been feeding me good food. Plus, I think Tao is kind of justified for being so mad at Baekhyun. I told you to stop making fun of him, didn’t I?”
The other three chinguline members drop their jaws at the sudden turn of events. Did their reason for fighting suddenly turn its back on them?
“Enough of the chit chat!” Tao barks. “Aren’t you guys looking for this?” he says as he summons the triforce into his hands (still equipped with the label: THE TRIFORCE on it).
“Tao-yah!” Sehun calls. “Be careful with that!”
“Shut up!! I’m tired of you guys belittling me! I can do whatever I want with this!”
He grabs the triforce and absorbs it into himself. His body begins to shake uncontrollably, and he shrieks out in pain as his body begins to grow and his skin turns blue. Two horns grow out of his head and hooves begin to form at his feet. After his transformation is complete, he resemble a giant blue bull. He lets out one final roar that echoes throughout the room. The rest of the boys stay frozen in place as the ox monster that is now Tao loudly huffs.
“...Uh-oh,” Chanyeol remarks.
Bull-Tao roars again and begins attacking everyone, including Sehun.
“Tao-yah! It’s me, Sehun! You can’t control the power of the triforce! It’s too much! Stop this right now before you seriously hurt everyone!”
Bull-Tao answers with another roar and swipes at Sehun, who dodges as the blow hits the wall. Kyungsoo’s cage comes crashing down to the ground, and the boy gets up from the debris, coughing from the flying dust particles.
“BYUN BAEKHYUN!” he roars himself. “Don’t you dare ever make fun of Tao ever again!!”
The rest of the crowd quickly disperses as Bull-Tao continues stomping around in rage, dangerously sending castle bricks flying everywhere. Chanyeol and Baekhyun harness their powered weapons to attack while Sehun continues to be on the defensive while attempting to talk sense into Tao. Even Kyungsoo takes a piece of the cage debris and uses it to attack.
Jongdae is now the one to feel useless. If only his master sword actually worked…maybe he wasn’t meant to retrieve it…maybe he isn’t cut out to be a hero like he thought he was. But while he ponders in his thoughts, Bull-Tao continues on his violent rampage. A particularly strong punch to the wall near Jongdae shakes him out of his thoughts. He looks around to find his friends panting and fighting hard. Chanyeol grips at his shoulder with his non-staff-wielding hand while Baekhyun attempts to heal Sehun’s injuries. Kyungsoo continues to grip onto his metal rod while gritting his teeth.
Jongdae watches Kyungsoo strongly fight despite not wielding any powerful weapons like the others. He admires his friend’s fighting spirit and his dedication to defend his friends. And that’s when it clicks. Jongdae suddenly feels enlightened when he realizes that true power does not necessarily come from weapons or outside objects, but from within. Chanyeol and Baekhyun had awakened their powers by the sheer determination to defend their friends. It wasn’t because of a desire for power or wanting to become a hero. It was their inner and sincere ambition.
Jongdae tightly grips the master sword’s hilt with new cause and sets his sights on Bull-Tao. He knows that Tao is only in such a state because of the overwhelming power of the triforce inside him. If he somehow dispels that from him, then he could still save his friend and also return them home where they could peacefully sort things out. He feels a new power surging through him as he slowly steps forward with his sword.
Streaks of lightning begin to emerge from his sword, and he rushes forward with the built-up momentum. He jumps and takes one strong stab at Bull-Tao’s chest. The bull-like monster howls in pain as the lightning reinforces Jongdae’s blow. Bull-Tao begins to glow, and Jongdae flies back from the crushing amount of energy he begins to emit. He convulses uncontrollably again while becoming smaller and slowly returning to his human form. Right before the glowing ceases, the triforce dispels from his body and he falls on the ground unconscious.
“Baekhyun-ah!! Go heal him!” Jongdae commands.
Baekhyun is already running to the boy’s side before Jongdae can even finish his command. The rest of the boys silently plead to themselves as they circle around the two. Tao’s eyelids begin to flutter, and he looks up at his healer.
“Sogogi…?” he groggily asks as he rubs his eyes.
“TAO-YAH! You’re okay!” Sehun shouts in joy and takes his best friend into a bone-crushing hug.
“So you can attack and heal?” Kyungsoo directs towards Baekhyun. “Impressive.”
“C’mon, guys. Can we all have a proper chinguline reunion, please?” Chanyeol says as he swoops all three boys into a group hug.
Jongdae giggles into the hug, but slowly feels the physical and mental exhaustion of their whole journey. His vision begins to blur and slowly begins to fade. He hears his friends’ voices frantically calling out his name in the darkness.
“Jongdae-yah! Jongdae-yah! Wake up!”
---
“Jongdae-yah! Jongdae-yah, are you okay? Jongdae-yah…”
Jongdae slowly wakes up and has to allow his eyes to adjust to the artificial lights. He looks around and sees his chinguline surrounding him.
“Joonmyun-ah! Jongdae is awake now!” Yixing calls out of the room.
“Where am I…?” Jongdae asks no one in particular.
“Well, you’re in my house,” Chanyeol begins to explain. “On my sofa. And Joonmyun-hyung is on the phone with your parents. I think we might be in trouble…”
“Oh…is it because of what happened with Tao?”
“Kind of, not really,” Chanyeol replies. “It was our faults for teasing him in the first place, I guess. But then we had to go chase them…”
“Wait, what are you talking about?” Jongdae interjects.
“Our fairy tale game, silly,” Baekhyun responds. “Sehun and Tao thought it would be fun to take off with our triforce. Kyungsoo was really in character, so he chased after them right away. They ran out through the back door, and then the rest of us followed them,” Baekhyun informed him.
“But didn’t we get the triforce back?”
“Dude,” Kyungsoo deadpanned. “You fell and hit your head the minute we tried to scale up Chanyeol’s backyard fence.”
“Jongdae-yah!!” their babysitter calls out. “Don’t ever scare me like that ever again! I think your concussion took a few years off of my life.”
Jongdae’s mind begins to process everything as Joonmyun-hyung sweeps him into a hug. A concussion? Does that mean that everything that just happened, the strange world, the master sword, and bull-Tao, wasn’t real?... The seven-year-old isn’t sure if he should be relieved or sad. But he looks around to chinguline, Tao and Sehun, and Yixing-hyung, and there is one thing that he’s sure of. He’s glad to be back safely with his friends.
Later that night when Jongdae starts his routine fairy tale reading (after he received a long earful from his parents about playing recklessly), he notices a certain item in the corner of his room. He picks up the familiar-looking cape wonder where it came from. Nonetheless, he happily straps the cape on before he jumps into his bed, pulls up the covers, and rereads the tale of the master sword.
Fin.
a/n: the title of this story should actually be: “authornim plays too much zelda.” but on a serious note, you better watch out byunbaek, tao might finally combust and go wushu on you one of these days. also, griffins don’t really have a weakness. i just made that up for the sake of chinguline…
also! joonmyun-hyung and yixing-hyung aren’t totally irresponsible babysitters. in their defense, chinguline and taohun didn’t make it very far before jongdae hit his head and went to lala land.