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btsvtworldsonfire · 3 years

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chapter 8 — tear

As soon as the Latin command left Alex’s lips, Baekhyun and Eunwoo swiftly and quietly slipped out of the ballroom with the Familiar. Once Alex closed the door, all three of them broke into a sprint through the long, carpeted hallway that muffled their hurried footsteps. It was a good thing the Familiar knew the quickest way out of the huge manor and into the garden.

“I fucking knew it,” Baekhyun cursed. “I knew this day was going too well. I saw owls over the Wisteria Forest this morning.” Eunwoo was suddenly flooded with panic.

“Is that a bad thing?” Alex asked.

“Bad for New Gods. It’s a symbol of-”

Eunwoo failed to explain because the first thing that he saw was the chaos in the greenhouse. Baekhyun followed Alex’s hand and saw Jaehyun having a staredown with Lucas. Behind the demon stood Prince Ten, but strangely, behind Jaehyun was Fear’s older son, Kun. Baekhyun and Alex didn’t even bother questioning it and simply ran up to Jaehyun’s aid.

“Don’t!” Kun yelled then grabbed Alex by wrapping his arms around her before she can get any closer to Jaehyun. “It’s too dangerous.”

Baekhyun gulped as soon as he saw what was in Lucas’s hands. He had a theory in mind, but he didn’t want to say anything.

Meanwhile, back at the party, the three Healers simultaneously stopped whatever they were up to. Their breaths hitched in their throats.

Seungkwan immediately stopped talking. His smile faded as his eyes filled with a mix of confusion and worry. Seokjin and Seokmin turned to each other, wondering what caused their friend to react this way.

Jimin was leading Bee to the dance floor when he felt it. His footsteps got slower and slower until he was standing completely still. He scrunched his brows together as he tried figuring out what was going on.

“Is everything okay?” Bee asked. Jimin’s trembling hand was the answer.

Hoseok was with Fey at one of the cocktail tables with a plate of hors d'oeuvres. “Say ah,” the Familiar hummed happily. The Healer smiled and was about to take the bite when he felt it. He slowly retracted, making Fey worry. She didn’t do anything wrong, so why did Hoseok seem so upset all of a sudden?

“Did I… do you not like deviled eggs?” she asked, giggling nervously as she tried to read his expression further.

“It’s not that. I think…” he looked up to her. “I felt something. Something strong.”

“My heart, i-it felt like it exploded in my chest,” Jimin said to Bee.

“It felt like somebody pulled my soul and slammed it into a void of despair,” Seungkwan thought out loud.

The people who were with the Healers looked more perplexed. What was going on?

The Healers, who all stood in three different areas of the room, looked at each other.

“Something happened in the Death Realm,” the three of them said in chorus.

Back in the garden, Eunwoo arrived at the greenhouse to a scene of Clip stabbing a demon in the back and kicking it to the side. She moved quickly and pinned the foul creature down to the ground. Meanwhile, on top of some broken pots and unfortunate plants was Taehyung, wincing in pain.

“Which master do you serve?” Clip taunted.

The demon hissed. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m here with the ruler of the Shadow Realm. And I’m going to kill the Kim Performer.” It thrashed and screamed in an attempt to break free, but the Familiar was much stronger than the demon thought.

“Oh yeah?” Clip sneered at its threat. “Sucks for you then, demon. Taehyung’s protractor is here.”

Eunwoo couldn’t help but chortle in the middle of such a serious scene. He moved to Taehyung and helped the guy get up on his feet. The Performer dusted himself off.

“What do we do?” Taehyung asked.

“Do you know the incantation for opening and shutting a portal?” Eunwoo said to him.

“There’s such a thing?! I thought only New Gods can do that!”

Eunwoo sighed. “Seriously, your entire kind is not utilizing the gifts from Rhetoric. You’re all so traditional.”

“Tell me about it.” Taehyung rolled his eyes. “But even if you do teach me, how sure are you that it’ll work? I mean can’t you do it instead?”

“You need to learn how. I’m not gonna stay with you forever.”

“Okay but-- but how are you so sure that I can do it? I don’t know. What if I can’t do it?”

Taehyung never acted like this in front of anyone. Never. As the gifted Performer that he is, he never backed down from a difficult lesson. He was always so willing to learn even the most advanced techniques both as a swordsman and as a Performer. That’s why he became so fluent in Latin before Seokmin started attending school. That’s why he was taught how to wield a sword while Joshua was still learning the basics of his powers.

Taehyung was always confident with himself, and Eunwoo, who knew the Performer even before he was born, was surprised by this.

“What? Why would you ask that?” Eunwoo asked. “You know what you’re capable of.”

“I do but this is something I haven’t done before. I haven’t practiced.”

“Just trust yourself, Taehyung. You can do it.”

“This is some high-level shit though.”

“So? That shouldn’t even be what’s on your mind right now! We’re dealing with a demon here!”

“But opening a portal? That sounds-”

“Kim Taehyung.” The New God said sternly. “I know you can do it. Wanna know why? Because Jaehyun’s father himself gave you your gifts.”

Both Taehyung and Clip looked at Eunwoo in surprise. Only now did the New God realized what had slipped from his mouth.

“... what?” Taehyung and Clip said at the same time.

Eunwoo sighed. “Truth is, some of the New Gods sensed that the Ancient One was going to win over the Human Realm during the next Ritual. That’s why Rhetoric decided to bless the next child of the Performers himself. He wanted to give the Families and the human race a fighting chance.”

Taehyung fell quiet. Meanwhile, Clip was jeering at the demon that she had pinned down.

“So please, Kim Taehyung. Give it a shot,” Eunwoo begged.

The demon screeched at Clip that nearly made her let go. She screamed back at it then turned to the two boys.

“Less talking, more opening of gateways to other dimensions please!” she shouted. The demon was able to free one of its hands from Clip’s grasp but the Familiar quickly pushed it down.

Taehyung gulped. “Okay, what do I do?”

Eunwoo smiled. “Muster up the same energy as you would when you puppet a demon. Only this time point your energy in front of you. The incantation is aperi paulo porta.”

The demon screamed once again. “HURRY UP!” Clip yelled.

Taking a deep breath in, Taehyung closed his eyes and gathered his energy. Happy memories of him with his family flashed in his head. He took another deep breath in and more memories flooded his mind. One last breath in, and he saw a vivid image of him on a picnic with his parents. He remembers this. It was one of the few times his uptight parents decided to spontaneously take him out somewhere. They brought little Taehyung to a field of tulips and enjoyed a picnic on a small hill overlooking the flowers.

“Always remember Taehyung. You’re not just a Performer. You mean the world to us.”

Taehyung immediately opened his eyes and shouted the incantation with Eunwoo with all of his might.

“Aperi paulo porta!”

A cloud of black smoke appeared before the two. It grew bigger and bigger and bigger until it was a full opening to the Shadow Realm. The wind blew violently and shattered more glass and pots. Plants flew everywhere. Muffled screams and cries of the evil spirits who resided there filled the greenhouse.

It was a mess.

Acting quickly, Clip grabbed the vial of rust from her pocket and threw its contents at the demon’s face. It let out another annoying scream as the powder temporarily blinded it. With the demon weakened, she dragged it to the portal by its hair.

“Begone forever, you foul creature!” she cursed at it before shoving it into the portal. It sensed what Clip was trying to do so it resisted.

But the Familiar was stronger. She kept kicking it and pushing it. Neither of the boys helped because she had the situation under control. She continued using her strength against the demon until nothing was left of it in the Human Realm.

“Now shout the incantation with me. Porta semper clauserunt,” Eunwoo instructed.

“Porta semper clauserunt!”

The portal to the Shadow Realm closed in on itself, and the violent wind stopped with it. All three left in the greenhouse were breathing heavily. Taehyung and Clip both collapsed from exhaustion. Eunwoo tried to hold himself up but his legs gave out.

While all of the chaos was going on in the greenhouse, Jaehyun and Baekhyun were preparing to fight Lucas. They knew it wasn’t going to be easy because the demon was wielding a New God’s weapon. Ten and Kun sensed the terror in the two. The younger prince smirked.

“You’re scared, I see.” The prince scoffed. “Afraid you’re going to end up like Chanyeol and Yixing?”

Baekhyun almost murdered Ten right there and then if it wasn’t for Jaehyun.

Alex turned to Kun. “What does he mean?”

“Another New God killed Baekhyun’s closest friends and Ten saw the whole thing. Okay look, I don’t know what you know about New Gods, but the ugly truth is we also die,” Kun explained.

“What? But aren’t you-”

“We’re flawed. We’re incredibly flawed,” he butted in. “I know it makes absolutely no sense because we’re supposed to be higher beings, but the Old Gods are too selfish to make us closer to them than to humans. That’s why we have Mendae--flaws that either weaken us or cause us to go out of control.”

Lucas lunged after Jaehyun with the scythe. The New God jumped to the side and delivered a powerful kick to the demon’s neck. Lucas stumbled a few steps, but he quickly gained back his posture and swung the scythe again. He continued throwing one attack to another and Jaehyun kept dodging. Avoiding the blade was a matter of life and death -- literally. Not because he was afraid of bleeding to death from a huge wound, but because that scythe was strong enough to rip out a human’s soul and kill a New God. Even the smallest scratch can hurt them.

Frustrated, Jaehyun yelled “Lacta creatura est quam maxime dolore.” Lucas flew back and crashed into Ten and Baekhyun, who were busy throwing punches at each other the whole time.

Ten had the upper hand. He was much faster than Baekhyun so by the time Lucas was sent flying across the garden, he already had the New God beaten up to a pulp. Baekhyun propped himself up with one arm. He groaned in pain, cursing Fear’s son in his mind as he tried to get up to continue fighting. Ten was amused. He wanted to see how much more Baekhyun can take, so he walked over to him and kicked his stomach.

Alex could only wince in pain and watched Ten mercilessly beat up the New God. Kun on the other hand was nervously watching Jaehyun try and steal back the scythe while avoiding getting killed by Lucas. He hasn’t noticed what his brother was up to.

“Kun?” Alex started.

“Hmm?”

“Baekhyun… he mentioned something earlier. Something about seeing owls flying over the Wisteria Forest.”

“WHAT?!” He exclaimed, causing Ten to stop momentarily to look at his brother and for Baekhyun to recover from the painful beating. But he shrugged it off and went back to doing this thing.

“Is it bad?” Alex asked and turned to Kun. He had a deer in the headlights look on his face.

“Really bad. It’s-”

He was interrupted by the sound of a knife getting pulled out of its casing. He turned his head and saw that Ten was already approaching Baekhyun with his dagger.

“It’sasignthatanewgoddiedokaystayheredontmove-” Kun said in a panic before leaving Alex alone behind the force field. He didn’t even care anymore and threw himself onto Ten. Next thing he knew he was wrestling with Ten like when they were kids--except this time they’re trying to kill each other for real.

“Alex!” A deep and worried voice called out. The Familiar turned in the voice’s direction and saw someone running up to her.

It’s Wonwoo.

“Wonwoo! Thank god you’re here. Those New Gods are killing each other and I don’t know what to do!” Alex said to him.

He put one hand on her shoulder and gave her an assuring smile. He gently pulled her away from the force field and stood in her place. He carefully eyes Lucas, trying his best to read him. Wonwoo winced a bit because of Lucas’s resistance. He and Jaehyun were having a close fight but with Wonwoo’s interfering, Jaehyun got the upper hand and was able to stun Lucas with a non-verbal spell. Wonwoo finally got a good read of Lucas. Despite being terrified of what he just saw, he managed to weave a nightmare for the demon. It’s not as strong as he had hoped but it was enough to buy Jaehyun time to steal the scythe.

Jaehyun turned around and mouthed “thank you” to Wonwoo.

Kun had also won against Ten. Panting, he looked over to where Alex was and put down the protective force field. Once Jaehyun had Lucas properly restrained, Wonwoo releases the demon from the nightmare.

“I… what… how did you…” Lucas said in his dazed state. Jaehyun tightened the restraints.

“We’ll take it from here. Thank you for all your help Alex and Wonwoo,” Jaehyun said before taking the demon away. Eunwoo arrived at the scene and helped carry Baekhyun. Kun struggled a bit with Ten but the brothers quickly disappeared into the shadows and back into their Realm.

Something else happened as the New Gods finally left the Human Realm. A portal had opened in the mirror in the Familiar’s dorm. Jaemin, who was there the whole time, kissed the girl on the forehead and smiled. The kind of smile that made her wanna punch him again.

“This won’t be the last time you’ll see me. I know you’ll come back when the truth spreads to the others,” he said with a wink before slipping into the mirror for good.

Meanwhile, at the party, Yoongi and the eldest of each Family sprinted out to the garden to see what was going on. Hoseok immediately sensed that someone had fainted in the greenhouse, so he ran back to get Seungkwan and Jimin to help him heal.

Mark felt something sharp hit his chest. Odd, he wasn’t supposed to feel anything. But he was was sure he felt something sharp. And he felt it again. And again. And again. Not realizing that he was disappearing from Pau’s grasp and fading into nothingness.

“Mark! No!” Pau yelled, but it was too late. Mark was gone again.

“We’ll help find him later. Now c’mon! We have to follow the hyungs and your siblings!” Jungkook said to her while dragging her out of the ballroom.

“But-”

Everyone was gathered around Wonwoo and Alex who were trying to explain what happened. Alex recalled everything that happened. Soon Clip and Taehyung arrived and they too explained how they got attacked in the greenhouse. Seungcheol stepped away for a bit to speak to the Familiar who encountered the New God in their dorm.

As all of this was happening, Pau caught something moving in the corner of her eye. She jerked her head in its direction and once her eyes landed on whatever was moving, she felt a sense of expanding, exhilarating joy in her. Almost as if this feeling was lifting her above the ground.

“Mark!” she yelled out in elation.

Everyone turned their heads and couldn’t believe what they were seeing. There he was, the Keeper of the Shrine, in the flesh. Unlike his appearance earlier, he was dressed in the same clothes that he wore before he was attacked. He was looking at his hands like he’s never seen them before. He was still processing what on earth just happened to him.

He’s alive again.

When he looked up, the first thing he saw was Pau running up to him then enveloping him in her arms. It took him a few seconds to realize that he was actually feeling her embrace right there and then. He hugged her back, burying his head in her neck. His tears didn’t hesitate to spill out of his eyes. He couldn’t tell if they were tears of joy for being alive again…

Or if he was sobbing because of what he just went through. Probably both, he thought.

“I missed you.” These were his first words.

Mark pulled away shortly and locked eyes with her. His gaze was full of love and adoration for the girl in front of him. His eyes fell down to her lips and right before he could lean in, he saw a crowd walking up to the two of them. It’s a mix of the Familiars and some of the members of the Seven Families

Guess that kiss is gonna have to wait.

“Mark I… how? How was this possible?” Pau asked. Not that she didn’t want him but because it’s probably the question on everyone’s mind.

He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. He was still processing what he just witnessed before he came back to life.

“Mark?” Pau called out to snap him out of his thoughts.

“Jenny. She brought me back,” he answered promptly. Pau sensed the fear in his voice.

The Familiars exchanged looks. Aly looked the most confused out of all of them. How could that be when his spirit was in the Min Mansion?

“Mark, something tells me there’s more to that,” Pau said gently. “Please tell us. What is it?”

“She’s gone. Lucas did it.”

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