Chapter Text
The village is a picture of harmony and prosperity, nestled in the crook of a deep lush valley surrounded by thick green forests that tower overheard. The crops are plentiful, the harvest always kind. No child ever goes hungry, and the streets bustle with lively markets boasting fresh produce and local delicacies. Despite small numbers seeming to move away from the area every two years or so, the population always remains high and thriving.
This day seems no different than any other. The sun dimming against the late October chill, the people smile and gossip and barter, the children laugh and play and cry for attention.
There is one person set apart from the idyllic scene.
‘Felix!’
The boy calls with ever growing desperation as he paces, his footprints scarred into the dirt from his relentless search. There are dark bags under his large eyes, worry etched all over his thin face.
Far from rushing to help the young man, the villagers regard him coldly, apathetically. Some women even hurry their children away as the boy passes, scared to expose their precious young to his sinful presence.
Han Jisung is used to this behaviour. At that particular moment he couldn’t care less. He scans the faces of the villagers, hoping to find the freckled, smiling face of his best friend- his only friend.
It has now been almost twenty-four hours since Jisung last saw Felix. They had been tending their physic garden, cheeks pink with excitement at the progress of their herbs, when Felix slapped his own forehead.
‘I forgot! I still have some medicine to drop off to the Masons.’
Jisung pouts, eyeing the darkening horizon.
‘Must you go now? Can’t it wait?’
‘They already hate us enough, Sungie, no point in making it any worse. Don’t worry, I’ll be back before nightfall!’
As Jisung watches his scatter-brained friend hare off into the distance, he has no idea what agony the ensuing hours hold for him as Felix fails to return.
At first, the worry is a deep low hum, hidden beneath vapid reassurances. Felix is probably distracted by a baby chick or a rabbit or something and completely lost track of the hour- it wouldn’t be the first time. Yet as the moon rises mournfully and there is no sign of him, Jisung’s stomach dissolves into a permanent state of jelly.
As soon as day breaks he heads straight to the Masons, receiving a less-than-warm reception. They bluntly tell him Felix failed to show. When Jisung asks for help finding him, they refuse, instead demanding a refund for the medicine. Jisung tells them exactly where they can stick their refund.
‘Sorry Lix,’ he mutters as he storms down their garden path, insults still being hurled at his back ‘I know you were trying to make things better for us here.’
The day passes in a panicked blur. Jisung gives up asking for help after the mayor basically laughs him off his front porch.
‘You’re overreacting, son. He’s probably off foraging for mushrooms or stroking black cats or whatever it is that… your kind do.’
Jisung bites the inside of his cheek. It’s not bad enough that the townfolk don’t give a shit about Felix, they clearly don’t understand the difference between healer and witch, nor do they care to learn.
He looks at the potbellied, beady eyed man with no small amount of disgust. God knows they were stupid to think they could ever settle here.
Felix was overjoyed when Jisung wandered into his village, tired of his nomadic lifestyle. With no family and no home, he travelled from place to place, making a meagre living as a healer. His exceptional gifts and hair the shade of moonlight did nothing to make his life easier, in fact quite the opposite.
‘Whore!’
‘Fae bastard!’
‘Satan’s spawn!’
But he finds sanctuary in Felix, the lonely boy living on the outskirts of the village. The orphaned son of the village apothecaries knows what it is to be an outcast; his starlight freckles and snow-white hair also mark him out for his magick. Tolerated but not respected, Felix clings to Jisung like a second skin, over the moon to find someone just like him. Except for the days when they must interact with others, they live in peace and comfort, tending to their garden and perfecting their medicines, the smell of baked brownies wafting through the floorboards, curled around each other under the comforter like two kittens as they share whispered secrets and hopes under the night sky.
Only Felix knows how powerful Jisung really is. For Felix, Jisung restrains himself.
But now their little paradise is under siege, and Jisung feels the urge to become the very monster the villagers paint him as.
That’s right, fear me, hide while you can he thinks as more children are ushered inside, peeking through their curtains with wide eyes. He’s saved your sorry lives multiple times over. He should have let you perish.
Hypocritical is a mild term, considering how many illnesses Felix has cured and pregnancies he has overseen in this sad excuse of a village- and that was before Jisung arrived. They never get thanks, only curious looks at best. These people are small-minded sheep, still living in the dark ages of conspiracy and superstition, their minds dulled by prejudice and monotony. There is a reason they never venture outside the confines of the village, terrified of the dark fir trees which encapsulate them like a curse. People fear what they do not understand, and fear makes people easy to control.
‘They’re wary of you because you came from the South forest,’ Felix explains after a particularly memorable encounter with a diabolical old man Jisung later learns is the father of the mayor, and therefore exempt from having any manners.
‘That is generally the route one needs to take if they want to travel in or out of this dump,’ Jisung acknowledges easily ‘I’m hoping they at least possess enough intellect to know this?’
Felix hides his smile.
‘Despite appearances, yes. But…’ his voice lowers as they pass the tavern, aware of the many pairs of eyes staring at them. ‘Tell me, did you happen to come across a castle? High up in the valley?’
‘Nope,’ Jisung replies, popping the ‘p’ ‘can’t say I recall that. Let me guess- old, scary, inhabited by some kind of beast?’
‘Not the castle, but the woods. The story goes there was once a prince who stayed in the village, bragging that he could kill the ancient beast and free the village of its tyranny. Of course, he was never seen again. The beast was so furious, it demanded a life each year in exchange for the wellbeing of the village. The prince’s body lies in the castle in eternal sleep as punishment, or so they say.’
‘We-e-ell, I made it here totally unscathed. So clearly the beast lost his touch, or the prince just skipped town. Can’t say I blame him.’
‘The beast probably took one look at you and decided not to bother. Such a short scrawny thing would only last a mouthful.’
Felix takes off, laughing, as Jisung pelts him with the raspberries they’ve just spent half an hour collecting.
He looks at the empty tavern now, feeling the phantom touch of Felix’s palm in his own. His eyes water. He refuses to believe the worst has happened. His friend is the most generous, kind, loving person Jisung has ever known. He’s his better half, his brother, his soulmate. Jisung has to find him.
He must.
‘Jisung-ah!’
He wipes a hand furiously across his cheeks, internally groaning as he turns tail and hurries off. Of course, he has to run into the one person who doesn’t look at him with fear or disgust, instead something much much worse.
‘Jisung-ah,’ Jaeyoung croons as he steps into Jisung’s personal space ‘what are you doing loitering around alone on Halloween? There are plenty of more important things you could be doing, you know…much more fun.’
Jisung swallows past the acid spurting up his throat from his stomach.
It began as something of a novelty when Jaeyoung first started pestering him for attention- a novel change from the usual reception Jisung gets. But even the villagers, as ignorant as they are, cannot deny that Jisung is pretty. His silver hair and wide dark eyes inspire many more badly written poems and bawdy tavern songs than he ever wants to acknowledge, and Jaeyoung, despite having no business ever picking up a feather, seems to author most of them.
He is the one of the most important men in town, the son of the mayor, and easily the most respected. He is a prodigious hunter, and the village tavern is adorned with his many trophies. Jisung has been inside the grand total of three times, unable to stomach the terror on the dead animal’s faces. He has always felt much closer to animals than people, and right now he feels like prey.
‘Jaeyoung,’ he acknowledges stiffly, ‘I’m not loitering.’
‘But you are alone,’ Jaeyoung smiles with far too many teeth, ‘so you must accompany me to the tavern and admire all my trophies.’
‘If it’s admiration you want, you’re looking in entirely the wrong place.’
Jisung attempts to step around the man, but is caught swiftly around the wrist.
‘It’s a very fetching game you’re playing, but it won’t last long. Everyone knows we belong together, even if you don’t seem to have accepted it yet,’ Jaeyoung hisses in Jisung’s ear.
Jisung wrenches himself away, his eyes flashing.
‘You’ll forgive me if my thoughts are on decidedly more important things than you. Felix has been missing since last night, and I intend to find out where he is.’
‘But of course! Allow me to aid you in the search. Though don’t you think it more likely that he simply wandered off into the woods to practice some more of that hokey religion you both follow? Honestly, Jisung, you should care more about what people say. As beautiful as you are, you do have somewhat of a reputation-’
‘His magic would never get in the way of him coming home,’ Jisung interrupted coldly ‘he would never get lost. He’s either seriously ill or injured or someone has taken him. Either way, I will bring him home.’
‘Your determination does you credit. It only makes you more attractive, and heightens my desire for you,’ the man says smoothly.
Jisung blinks. If this were any other time, he would laugh right in his face.
‘If that’s all, I must be going now-’
Jaeyoung blocks his exit, his imposing form towering over Jisung’s small frame.
‘-I will make you a deal, Jisung. I will mobilise the entire village to search for Felix and we won’t rest until we bring him home. You know they listen to me above all else. They worship me. They would do anything I asked- even helping you.’
Jisung is silent. As much as he doesn’t want to admit it, Jaeyoung- for once- has a point. He is tired, and daylight is fast fading. He needs all the help he can get.
‘And the catch?’
Jaeyoung steps closer until they are almost chest to nose, his dark eyes staring ravenously down at the mage.
‘We will search tomorrow from dawn until sundown, and at that time, you will give me an answer to my proposal. And it will be the correct answer.’
‘Why can’t you start searching now?’
‘The night will hinder our search. Not even I can tear the men away from their homes into the dark forest at this hour- but you have my word we will start the search as soon as day breaks.’
‘How do I know you’ll keep your promise?’
‘I’ll do anything to get what I want. Why would I break my word when there is such a tantalizing prize depending on it?’
Ignoring the triumphant gleam in Jaeyoung’s sharp eyes, Jisung nods. There is sure to be a loophole in Jaeyoung’s contract, and if the worst comes to the worst, he can always cast a spell with Felix to erase Jaeyoung’s memory of him and run away from this wretched place forever.
If he ever finds Felix.
Jaeyoung smiles wolfishly once more, one meaty fist squeezing around Jisung’s slender palm as they shake on it.
‘Don’t forget your promise, Jisung-ah; I will be collecting my share of the bargain.’
He marches into the tavern, his chest puffed out with victory. Jisung hurries past, keen to get as far away from the man as possible.
He searches until well into nightfall anyway, scrutinized by the watchful glow of the full moon, exploring every corner to no avail and consciously trying not to think about what he’s signed himself up for.
His anger at the villagers, at Jaeyoung, at the entire world, swiftly turns to despair as he trudges back through the empty streets. The heavens open. He barely feels the rain soak through his billowing shirt and breeches, totally lost in thought.
He can’t go home. It is so empty, so cold. So lonely.
Despite everything he is drawn towards the warmth and light of the tavern, a beacon in the sudden tempest that besets the town. Due to the noise coming from the closed windows, it seems that most of the townfolk have sought shelter inside. His better instincts raising their eyebrows, his fingers rest on the handle, weighing up that a warm brew in a toasty corner is a price worth paying for the risk of seeing Jaeyoung and his many horrific trophies.
Maybe there are so many people inside that the man might, by some small act of magic, not even notice him.
The man’s voice in question booms across the bar in a drunken shout, and he presses himself against the frosted window to peer inside.
‘-and the boy suspects nothing! Actually believes that we’re going to find the freckled brat! As if we’re the ones who didn’t send him to his death anyway!’
He laughs cruelly, and the villagers join in, jeering and chuckling and clinking their glasses together.
Jisung’s blood curdles, his bones shrivelling to dust.
‘The beast must be pleased with its sacrifice; our village is left alone, letting our crops thrive and our people live. We will be safe for another two years, my friends, and all thanks to that apothecary orphan! Who knew he’d actually turn out to be useful for something!’
With a jolt that brings him to his knees, Jisung knows why people ‘leave’ the village every two years, migrating to other parts of the land. They are snatched by Jaeyoung and his men and offered to the beast, not a legend at all but a flesh and blood monster, for the selfish exchange of two uninterrupted years of ‘peace’. The village knowingly sends them to a horrific death, all to save their own skins.
And now Felix- kind, angelic, wonderful Felix- is paying the ultimate price for their greed.
‘Come the end of the day tomorrow, I’ll have a pretty new husband on my arm,’ Jaeyoung leers, ‘I’ll tame him into submission and wipe any thought of magic from his gorgeous silver head.’
‘But what if the witch turns you down? He’s done it enough times before,’ the fishmonger pipes up, clearly too inebriated to assess the safety of his words, laughing raucously as if he has said something remarkably witty.
Several of the other villagers titter behind their hands, and Jaeyoung’s face turns apoplectically red with rage.
Jisung clasps a hand over his mouth to stifle his cry as Jaeyoung snatches up a red hot poker from the fire and thrusts it inches from the man’s eye, his other hand holding the squirming fishmonger in place while he begs for his life.
‘Listen here, you snivelling wretch. Listen all of you! I will have that little witch for my husband, and nobody, not you, not even him, will stop me! By sunset tomorrow, he’ll be mine.’
Something between a sob and a gasp escapes his throat. Jisung turns tail and sprints through the rain, unable to watch or hear any more.
The pumpkins line the pavements, clumsily carved out by the village children, their jagged smiles and wicked eyes laughing at Jisung. His feet are soaked from pounding through the streets, rivers of water gushing down the paved cobblestones like a biblical flood. But Jisung feels nothing, his clothes plastered to his back just as the first crack of lightning splits the boiling sky in half.