JISUNG WAS not having a very good day. first of all, he got scolded by chan (twice), which was never fun. second of all, he was trapped in a block of ice.

"son of a bitch!" he yelled. "minho, let me out! it's freaking cold in here!"

the pair of mages had gone to a small pond near the base to spar with each other. jisung had used his magic to set the field around them ablaze, forcing minho to take a defensive position near the water. as he had charged forward, flames surrounding him, minho hopped onto the pond and shot a few icicles at him. the fire mage melted them easily, twisting from side to side to blow fire at them. however, the distraction took jisung's eyes off of his partner, and that's when he struck. before he knew it, he was neck-deep in a chunk of ice.

minho crossed the pond, the water beneath his feet freezing with every step he took. "you always fall for the same tricks," he said, stopping in front of jisung's frozen body. "when are you going to learn from your mistakes?"

"when you stop freezing me!" the fire mage yelled, teeth chattering. "let me out!"

"why can't you? you can control fire, after all."

jisung frowned. "you know why!"

minho did know why jisung couldn't use his magic— he just liked to push the younger's buttons. jisung's body heat was naturally extremely high, but when dropped instantaneously, his body would go into shutdown mode. exposure to intense cold was necessary for him to regulate his body temperature, but if the exposure came too suddenly (like going from a field of fire to a block of ice, for example), he would lose all control over his magic ability, leaving him defenseless. in just one day, he had fallen for the ice block trap eight times in a row, much to minho's bafflement.

the ice mage pressed his hand to the ice and it melted in an instant, putting out the small fires still burning on the grass and sending jisung falling to the ground. "i fucking hate you sometimes," the fire mage groaned. "why did chan have to partner us together?"

"because our opposite natures will make us unstoppable." minho squatted next to jisung's limp body and began removing his red cloak, which was soaking wet from the melted ice. he squeezed it out and laid it in the sunlight to dry, saying, "partnering with someone who can train your weak points will ultimately better you in combat. you have to admit that your tolerance to the cold has gone up in the year we've been working together, no?"

it was true. when minho froze him for the very first time almost a year ago, jisung couldn't even speak. even after minho had released him from the icy prison, jisung had remained stone-still in shock. now the fire mage could move, but his body was sluggish and still unfit for combat. all in good time, minho thought, watching as the younger mage tried desperately to soak in all the sunlight he could.

"yeah, yeah." jisung wriggled like a worm until he was completely exposed to the sunlight, closing his eyes in bliss. minho, on the other hand, scrunched up his nose in disgust.

"your back and pants are totally muddy now," he chided, taking his skin of water and approaching the other. jisung said nothing in response but soon let out a cry when his partner flipped him over and dumped water all over his back. he let out a string of curses causing minho to bite back a laugh while continuing to rub the mud away. "better this than to throw you in the pond, jisung."

"better this my a— ouch!" he hissed in pain when minho ran his hand over a spot near his shoulder-blade. the ice mage paused before cleaning the spot again, but more gently this time. there he found a large scab that ran down the length of his shoulder-blade, one of the few that minho had not given to him in their sparring sessions.

"...jisung, are you training on your own again?"

the younger visibly flinched and minho took this as a yes. in the past, jisung would sneak out late at night to fight some of the more dangerous creatures that moonspeak forest had to offer. oftentimes he was successful at hiding this, but one night he had gotten injured so badly that he was out of commission for a week. that was when minho had found out about his nighttime adventures and ordered him to put a stop to them. jisung had never understood why minho had gotten so upset, but that was just one of the many mysteries of lee minho.

now, though, it seemed that jisung's habit had started back up again. "you know how i feel about this," minho stated, trying to ignore the tight feeling in his chest, "but i suppose you don't have to take my words to heart if you don't want to."

jisung sighed and rolled over to face his partner. "i'm not trying to make you feel bad, minho, it's just that..." he rubbed his face exasperatedly, staining his cheeks with dirt. "i have a dream. i want to be the strongest mage in the land of wind. i'm still too weak right now, so i have to train whenever i can."

then train with me, minho wanted to say. i can help you whenever you want me to! but he merely took jisung's face in his hands and wiped the dirt away. "i know. i just don't want you to get hurt when you already get your butt kicked by me in training. that's all."

jisung cocked an eyebrow and minho knew he had said the right thing to get his partner's spirits up. "is that a challenge?" he asked, the fire returning to his eyes. "because if so, i'm ready to take you on!"

"anytime, jisung. anytime."

»»————-　♔　————-««

while jisung and minho had some problems to work out internally, hyunjin and seungmin had some problems to work out externally.

"fuckin' fairies!" hyunjin yelled, swinging his gigantic sword from side to side in a fruitful attempt to chop down the winged creatures attacking him. "seungmin, give me a hand here!"

"i'm kind of busy here!" seungmin grunted, throwing one of his shields like a disc and impaling a handful of fairies against a tree. "just...give me a moment!"

the fairy field where the pair of warriors had gone to train was a beautiful place filled with flowers, peaceful animals, and minimal trees. however, the fairies that lived there were anything but beautiful. they were hideous, tiny beings who loved to torture anyone foolish enough to visit their field, often throwing spells at their opponents like nobody's business. while irritating, they were far from the most dangerous creatures in the forest, and their lack of predictability made for good training.

hyunjin and seungmin were the only two people in the guild who were not affluent in magic usage, seungmin being the only one in the pair that could cast a single spell in times of dire need. this put them at a major disadvantage when battling magical creatures, but they gladly accepted any chances to hone their skills against them when they could.

well, hyunjin did. he often decided things for the pair like that. seungmin was just dragged along for the ride.

"hyah!" seungmin bashed the last of the fairies that surrounded him with his remaining shield and ran to assist his partner, who was swinging blindly at the fairies who were attacking his eyes. in the year that he had been in the guild, seungmin had learned that hyunjin had a knack for jumping into things without thinking of the consequences. him running directly into the fairy field as soon as they arrived and instantly being swarmed by the little devils was an example of that. "drop your sword and tear them from your eyes, idiot!"

"no way!" hyunjin roared, continuing to swing his weapon and narrowly missing his partner. his sword— an object of massive proportions— had a golden hilt and was made of enchanted amethyst. it was as tall as he was and extremely heavy, making it nearly impossible for anyone to pick up but him. he was known as the ninth guild's berserker, a warrior whose offensive ability was insanely high. his inability to think before he acted, though, was what typically brought him down in battles.

seungmin, ever the more calculative, rolled his eyes and braced himself. when hyunjin's sword came around again, he used his shield to deflect it with a clang, sending the weapon spiraling out of hyunjin's hands. seungmin's arms shot forward to rip the fairies from his partner's eyes, tossing them to the ground and squashing them beneath his foot. hyunjin stood there for a moment, blinking confusedly, before letting out a hoot of victory. "easy win!" he cheered. "they were no match for the great and powerful hwang hyunjin!"

seungmin rubbed his temples. "the only thing bigger than your ego is your sword," he sighed, "which you can find by yourself. i'm taking a break."

hyunjin shrugged. "fine by me," he said, beginning the search for his weapon before another group of fairies returned for revenge.

seungmin watched his partner go before leaving to collect his second shield. they were rather large, sturdy things, lined with silver and filled with blue crystal, the symbol of the ninth guild adorning them in gold. when he had joined the guild a year ago, chan had used his savings to get the insignia crafted onto his shields, and it gave them the completed look seungmin never knew they were missing. in the years he had trained as a paladin— a warrior who took the defensive position for their team— he had never really thought of himself as particularly important or beneficial. it was chan who made him see his true worth.

he also had to give some credit to hyunjin. the reckless behavior of his partner made seungmin's presence necessary. if he wasn't there, who would be there to save his sorry ass whenever he ran into trouble? the berserker had no idea what the word "defense" even meant— it was seungmin's job to know it for him. sometimes he felt more like a babysitter than a partner, but that was just the way things were with hwang hyunjin.

while he was in the midst of wrestling his shield out of the tree trunk, he heard his partner cry out before dozens of footsteps dashed away through the underbrush. racing over to the source of the noise, seungmin found hyunjin's sword, abandoned, next to what seemed to be hoof-prints leading deep into the forest.

the paladin blanched. centaurs. he needed to find the guild.