The Citadel of Bingyeon (Ice Smoke)

Episode 12: Rift

The maze's narrow stone walls began to slowly twist with a deep, heavy rumble, and that harsh vibration came through all the way to the soles of our boots. The deeper and deeper we crawled into the suffocating darkness, the more Hyunjin's luminous smoky mist cast long, strange shadows over the red mud walls.

"Watch your step, Seoha."

Chanyeon-oppa warned in a low voice. It was his low, sweet voice, cleanly slicing through the heavy silence. His big, warm hand was firmly bracing the small of my back, and his palm steadied my body against the uneven, steeply slanted stone ground.

"The structure of this maze is a very ancient ruin. The foundation itself is far from stable."

But before the sentence had even fully left the corner of his lips, someone took a fatal misstep on the crossroads of cruel reality.

A sharp, deafening blast echoed through the whole room, shaking it violently. Before anyone could build up any magical momentum, the solid stone floor beneath Chanyeon-oppa and me suddenly dropped away, then shattered and collapsed into perfect, absolute darkness.

"Seoha!"

From the air above, Hyunjin and Jiseok screamed in utter panic and desperation, flailing their hands wildly, but it was already too late.

We plunged straight down through the pitch-black darkness for one dizzying instant of terror. But Chanyeon-oppa brutally twisted the full weight of his body midair, then wrapped his broad, sturdy arms all the way around my waist, sealing me completely into his arms to protect me. And as we tumbled hard onto the hidden floor below the ruin, he took the full force of the impact on his broad back.

A thick, choking cloud of dust billowed up like a waterfall over the smooth floor.

I coughed hard and forced my upper body up with difficulty, sitting up.

"Chanyeon-oppa! Are you okay?!"

"I'm here."

He murmured softly with his head lowered near my ear. The syllables carried a low, rough wheeze, but they were filled with such gentle warmth that they soothed the air all around us in an instant. Even after taking that horrific fall head-on, his big hand still held my waist tight and unyielding, pulling me firmly against his chest. Only after confirming that I wasn't hurt even a little did he let out a breathless, relieved laugh and flash that unmistakable bright, sun-like smile again through the darkness.

"As long as I'm holding you, you're safe, Seoha."

Carefully, we got back up, but the secret passages below were swallowed completely in perfect darkness. Hyunjin's luminous smoke trail had been cut off entirely, leaving only cold, damp silence so dense we couldn't even make out the road ahead. To reach the center of the maze, we had to keep exploring this deeper containment area, but we were completely blind, not even the centimeter in front of us revealing any visual detail.

I closed my eyes tightly and let out a deep breath, focusing all my mind on the warm light of the gentle guardians rising from the depths of my chest. Sensing Chanyeon-oppa's steady pulse beside me, I stretched both hands out in front of me. And this time, I did not fight to forcibly control or suppress the heavenly void magic inside me. I simply opened the way and let it overflow naturally.

A soft, celestial glow of violet twilight pulsed up fiercely from just beneath my skin, then unfolded into a beautiful, radiant curtain of swirling cosmic dust in the air before us. That faint light meticulously traced the entire narrow stone corridor, transparently illuminating the perilous, twisting path toward the maze's center.

Chanyeon-oppa's breath caught for a moment in awe. As he stared at the dazzling heavenly light swirling up from my fingertips, his face softened and collapsed with emotion, filled with a story of deep, inescapable gratitude and treasured affection. Without saying a word, he stepped into my space, pulled me tight against his broad chest, and buried his face in my hair.

He pressed his lips near my ear and whispered softly. His voice dropped a full octave, sweet and heavy, radiating a weight that seemed to squeeze at my chest, sending a pleasant shiver deep inside me. His big hand once again held the line of my waist firmly and unyieldingly, supporting my center with steady strength.

"I knew you could do it. You're truly my perfect queen."

With the cosmic light I had summoned guiding the path through the darkness, and Chanyeon-oppa's big hand steadily supporting my waist, we finally broke cleanly through the difficult underground tunnel and charged straight into the vast, magnificent arched central dome room.

"Seoha! Chanyeon-hyung!"

From the very edge of the cliff ridge above, Hyunjin and Jiseok came racing down the corridor at full speed. Their faces were pale with deep concern, but the very instant they saw that we were standing there unharmed, that expression melted soft as spring snow into total relief. Hyunjin even slid down to his knees right in front of me, his cheeks already flushed a deep, embarrassed red. He huffed and roughly swept a leather sleeve aside, then hurriedly poured out his words in a rush, smoothly pulling back on that familiar puppy-like, anxious, lively energy.

"Ah, seriously! I thought this maze had swallowed the two of you whole and buried you! And we had to sit trapped up there not knowing whether you were alive or dead? That's completely unfair! I'm so glad!"

Jiseok strode over to the side opposite me, and that proud, enormous smile of his bloomed brilliantly across his face. He gently found my hand and wrapped it in both of his, warm and soft, giving me steady, solid grounding. He had precisely adjusted his hearing aid so he could fully tune himself to the silence drifting through the room, and in his eyes as he looked down at me shone a story of deep, absolute devotion that was impossible to escape. With quiet, unhurried precision, Jiseok gently traced a comforting little heart over the back of my knuckles.

"I told you, Seoha would find the sure path back to our arms."

Jiseok let out a low laugh and firmly held the warm pulse in his grasp, reassuring me with stubborn certainty.
But our relief did not last long. At the exact center of the central dome room, our third star shard was fixed and hidden inside the magical grid prison that filled the air and rumbled periodically as if in angry pulses.

Across the entire surface of the prison casing, four elaborate magical locks infused with the elements of the surrounding area were glowing with sharp light. To break the seal on that thing, it was a manual override system that required all four of our magical forces to strike at the exact same time with not even a single line of error.

"All four locks have to be hit at the same time, with no deviation at all."

Chanyeon-oppa gave the order. Military strategic focus flashed sharply in his eyes, and with one hand firmly bracing my lower back, he led me steadily toward the central control platform.

"Hyunjin, aim your smoke. Jiseok, take the ice. I'll synchronize the pulse of raw, primal kinetic energy. And Seoha... the magical lock in the very center responds only to the frequency of your void."

We all formed up and took our positions at once.
On the first try, Hyunjin's dark clump of smoke, Jiseok's cold ice magic, and Chanyeon-oppa's immense energy flew perfectly toward the lock grid. But because of the physical fatigue and taut tension left from the fall moments earlier, my hands trembled slightly. The pulse of my violet flame burst out a second too early, too hastily, and our perfect synchronization sequence shattered to pieces. The grid prison let out a sharp, painful hiss, violently rebounding and isolating every element of force we unleashed.

"It's okay, we can do it again."

Chanyeon-oppa soothed me in a low voice, gently wrapping both hands around the line of my waist and holding me firmly and unyieldingly so the weight of my body would not shift.

On the second try, my chest tightened with an unavoidable, desperate panic. In my desperation to make it succeed, I pushed the force too hard, and the heavenly void magic bursting from both my hands twisted wildly before exploding into a blinding shockwave. The magical flames, missing the lock's frequency by a perfect margin, turned into violet dust and lashed across the stone walls before scattering and vanishing. I stumbled back a step, and hot tears of frustration and crushing helplessness welled up raw at the corners of my eyes as I gasped for breath.

"I can't do it... I'm too tired."

At that moment, Jiseok stepped into my space in one swift stride, as if the noise of the grid prison had never even registered with him. He caught both of my trembling hands in his hot palms and held them there, locking my gaze in place with intense focus.

"Look at me, Seoha."

The voice of Jiseok's low murmur sank into my mind as a soft whisper, endlessly low and sweet.

"Don't look at that locked display case. Focus only on the strength in my hands holding yours. Just feel my pulse, the same sure rhythm we practiced together in that cozy room, so your magic can synchronize perfectly with the steady frequency of my heartbeat."

With quiet, unhurried precision, he gently traced another pretty little heart across the center of my palm, as if to reassure me. The pulse of that familiar, gentle touch reached me, and the wild, restless void flames inside me settled into a perfectly peaceful, steady equilibrium.

At the same time, Chanyeon-oppa came lightly up behind me and stood close, pressed against my back. His broad, sturdy chest met the back wall of my tightened corset warmly and held steady like a heavy anchor, and his big hands held my waist so tightly and unyieldingly that it was impossible to separate them, supporting the weight of my body.

Hyunjin swung his leather sleeve and tossed me a proud, huge, encouraging wink.

"Just one last time."

Chanyeon-oppa lowered his head near my ear and murmured softly. His voice poured out a deep, heavy gravity that soaked straight into my chest, filling me with complete confidence.

"Because we're here beside you, holding you up completely."

I drew in a deep breath and leaned my whole heart on Jiseok's solid grounding around the back of my hand and Chanyeon-oppa's immense strength supporting my back.

And at the moment of our third and final finale, we all struck down every trace of magical force at once toward the one sure path. Hyunjin's luminous smoke mist, Jiseok's freezing frost, Chanyeon-oppa's grand resonant power, and at last the brilliant beam of twilight-violet cosmic dust bursting from my fingertips all harmonized perfectly without a single line of error, cleanly slicing through the exact center of the four locks at the same time.

The strange grid prison burst with a blindingly huge, clear metallic crash. The magical barriers blocking us were completely neutralized in the blink of an eye, evaporating entirely into the air, and at last the third and final shard of the star glass, which had been sealed shut all this time, was fully released and fell gracefully, floating down onto my outstretched palms.

The smooth crystal began pulsing with a steady hum, perfectly in harmony with the frequency of my heartbeat, as if singing the glory of victory finally regained. The dazzling violet cosmic light it released filled the deepest heart of this trembling maze, beautifully writing out our perfect and great victory.