𝒯𝒶ℯ𝒽𝓎𝓊𝓃 

I was starting to feel my fast walking legs getting heavy with the overload, when I was suddenly shaken by the chill. As if someone poured cold water on my tiredness once again. 

They found him - I breathed a sigh of relief and massaged my temples. 

"Hey... are you okay?" Soobin asked carefully and slowed his pace a little. 

I shook my head and combed my bangs back: "Mhm, I think I got a second wind." 

His eyes scanned me briefly. 

"Mhm... yaya, I trust you," the elf pierced me with a gentle irony, before I noticed him offering me his elbow, "you can lean on me, hm?" 

At first, I just stared into his calm kind eyes, reminding me of peaceful harbor, then I hooked my forearm on his and looked ahead. 

It was probably my short hesitation followed by hugging his arm what made him chuckle after a while of quite comfortable silence... accompanied by sounds under our bare feet. 

We were both very good listeners... and we also both knew well that the silence of the surrounding nature did not bode well. 

"You're so cute, Taehyunie..." 

"Are you still raving?" 

Chuckle. 

"No, I'm completely clear now. No haze," Soobin replied and patted my hand wrapping his shoulder. 

I slightly looked up at his face... shortly checked on the writhing water tendrils, sprouting from his shoulder blades. He carried them in case there wasn't a large water source at Yeonjun's location. 

That brought me back into my thoughts... 

What actually happened inside him before and after he fell into the lake? If the pixie dust woke up wendigo and possibly released Beomgyu's fairy nature... could it also unlock or upgrade something in Soobin? 
He seemed to be happy... and his lungs- 

"Actually, I wanted to thank you for everything... from sharing and easing my grief after Yeonjun disappeared... upon caring of my body and dragging me unconscious through the Starkissed Lake here to the Magic Island... to literally jumping off the cliff for me..." 

Do you remember all that from that morning? 

"I can always count on you. I'm really grateful to you, Taehyun." 

I hugged his arm tighter. After all these warm words of appreciation I simply wanted to melt and fall on my knees alike a house of cards. Maybe that was why my mouth rejected his praise. I can't let up yet. 

"But I couldn't ease anything... Beomgyu had to seal the diary." 

Archer gave me a slightly shocked glance. 

"And? You still carried all that weight with no sleep for a couple of nights, while I was off. I won't take that effort for granted," Soobin insisted a bit irritably. 

Kai and Beomgyu were the similar way - I thought stubbornly, but kept it to myself. I didn't want to argue just because of irritation from fatigue. 

"Thank you for appreciating it...," with these words I slowly let go of his arm and took a few faster steps down the slope. 

After that I headed towards a tree that caught my attention. 

"Hey! Taehyun-a!" 

So far I have been saving the rest of my magical energy and walked down my memory lane without opening the third eye, but the time has come to use it. 

My fingers touched the purple stain of my blood plasma on the bark of the tree... one blink brought the same color into my irises and the pitch black darkness slowly revealed me the energetic flows and points. 

One such cluster of stars approached me and I overheard Soobin's thoughts. 

How can someone be so good at proving love with actions but so lukewarm with words? 

Heh... 

"Beomgyu asks the same," I replied wittily to let him know I heard it and started searching for Yeonjun's constellation. 

"Ah, you-" 

"Nevermind, we are really close to Jun now." 

"Mhhm...," Soobin cleared his throat to get rid of the embarrasment. The stars slightly moved left and right, as he looked around too. 

"This way," I ordered and pointed the direction as soon as I caught sight of madly twinkling stars in the dense red nebula. 

The third eye closed and vision of forest in daylight appeared to me again, so I could run safely and see what's under my feet. 

"Damnit, it's already the wendigo," Soobin's worried tone found its way through his quickened breath as he ran by my side. With his extra few centimeters he could catch a glimpse of the familiar antler earlier. 

He lost it... We don't have a fire to scare the wendigo, what do we do? - I glanced at Soobin, waiting for his plan. We slowed down, but still walked fast towards the goal. The adrenalin fully pumped up my tired body again. 

"Okay, Taehyun-a. The strategy is- I'll jump over the bushes to fight it and wash the body, but it has to notice you first so-" 

"- so I can look it in the eye and try to trap it into my manipulation." 

"Don't dare to cross those bushes! Understood?" the Prince assured warningly... but I couldn't confirm that. 

"Then you better do your best, so I don't have to." I won't let it hurt you. 

Without further waiting for an answer, I started running again. I ran until I could see the antler of the tall creature clearly, then I jumped high to grab the branch above me and easily threw my body up into the air. 

My tips lightly landed on the bough and I crouched to have a direct view. 

It surprised me to see not only the rotting tall skinny body with a deer skull instead of head... but also a strong young man who was trying to keep it away from his chest, while the wendigo was bending over him. 

Changbin... The name immediately came to my mind with a gasp. 

I looked down to see Soobin approaching the bushes and jumping over them in a high arch. 

"Soob, don't move! It already got its prey! I'll distract it and try to get to Yeonjun!" 

Archer landed on the ground and took a step back in surprise, before he looked up at me. 

"Be careful." 

"You too." 

Soobin nodded, then he moved the water tendrils in front of him in an elegant movement of his hands. 

Okay. 

I breathed out and focused my eyes on the wendigo still attacking the man with an unexpected strength and durability. 

"Yeonjun-a!!!" I screamed from the depth of my throat. 

The monster growled, but refused to turn my side. 

"Hey!! Monster!! Am I not tasty enough for dinner anymore?!" 

"So nasty, it's drooling over another guy." Soobin grinned and the smirk it brought to my lips made me realize the blood running from my nose. 

Flick, I don't have much time left... 

I quickly wiped my upper lip and tried to gather the rest of my magical powers into a deep breath, while Soobin was still waiting in his tensed position... ready to attack the wendigo. 

"I command you to turn to me!!!" 

The deer skull roared even louder this time, but it worked - the wendigo was forced to turn in my direction and thus ended up trapped in my gaze. 

"You won't move. Your body is too heavy. You're too heavy to make a move." 

As soon as Soobin was assured the hideous body really won't budge, he sent the controlled water snakes forward to envelop it. 

Changbin was free, yet he still didn't run away. Getting to his feet, he got behind the wendigo without hesitation and fearlessly imprisoned its arms in his strong grip. That allowed me to loosen up on manipulation and dive deeper into the head. 

I've never faced nothing scarier and uglier than wendigo's inanimate eyes... but each time I was fighting it, I tried to keep my mind on thinking about that beautiful innocent soul it oppresses. 

"Jun, can you hear me?" 

I swallowed the blood and tears and gripped the branch next to me. My eyelids were getting heavier. I was too weak to keep the vision of Yeonjun's unconscious soul clear and it was overlapping with the view of two boys fighting the monster with water and their bare hands. 

"Please, wake up... We are finally here." 

The wendigo fell onto its knees and growled again. The already dirty water kept on washing over the bony chest which seemed to be slowly gathering back its fullness and healthy colors not reminding of a corpse. 

"Come back to us, Yeonjun...," I cried losing my mind. 

"Tyun?" 

"Tae, let it go. He is already coming back to his senses, you can leave it." 

Soobin spoke to me through his thoughts, but the weakness sank me too deep into my own emotions, not allowing his words to really reach me. I couldn't stop on crying and trying to get Yeonjun's reply. 

"Taehyun, I really mean it! Get out!" 

"Jump down, man! Your fight is over!"  

But I couldn't. I was too weak to admit it was already the end. The flow of tears I held back for a long time wouldn't stop and holding on Yeonjun's soul was the last thing keeping me awake. 

When the Guardian finally opened his eyes and they met mine... the realization that he was okay easily blew me away with a breeze of relief... 

... all of me completely shut down and nothingness swallowed me up in free fall. 

•.°➶⍟➴°.•

•.°➶⍟➴°.•

+x+

I! Was! So! Freakin! Excited! To write this chapter! seifwi XDD bye... now I have to find out what to do next. Btw, don't worry... someone caught Taehyun for sure, I swear... and as you can see, he needs some rest and others do too, so I promise you they will have some... mhm... chill for now XD at least they won't fight anything any soon.