Chapter 44: Chapter 44 - You Belong To Us Now Part 1

As soon as their feet landed on the ground beyond the gate, Mi Young immediately felt a strong eerie presence around them.

She didn't say anything but she knows that the other feels it too.

"Why is everything so dark? Is there something wrong in this place?" Se Heon asks.

"It's the place that the sun cannot reach." Mi Young answers. She rolled her eyes at Se Heon again, "Have you been listening or not?"

Se Heon was about to retort something back but the Alpha said something that made them stop bickering. "The pup is right. Something is indeed wrong here."

"What do you mean?"

"Even without sunlight, this place still has light coming from the violet lamp grass that serves as the lair's sun." The chief of the dwarves said as they continued walking around the area with careful steps. "The violet lamp grass only blooms at night. And since this place is always at night time, the violet lamp grass always blooms here. However, the darkness now is totally different from before. I think something is going on."

They were about to round the corner towards a huge rock formation when a booming voice suddenly made them stop in their tracks.

"Who dares to enter my lair without permission?" The loud voice echoed all throughout the dark place.

Mi Young and Se Heon looked around to search for the source of the voice, but they found none.

However, the Alpha and the chief remained calm. The two students noticed that the two leaders were looking at something up ahead of them so they followed their gaze and that's when they saw the huge eye looking directly at them.

"Holy sh*t!" Se Heon shouts. The sudden appearance of the huge eye made him back off a little like a scared kid. Mi Young laughed at him so Se Heon immediately fixed himself as he tried to regain his manly demeanor. He coughs awkwardly before he turns to Mi Young while pointing his finger at her, "Not a word."

Mi Young jokes out by zipping her mouth shut.

"Who are these young pups?" The voice calls out. The giant eye looking at them shifts its gaze towards the Alpha.

"I think that's none of your business." The Alpha says in a dismissive tone.

"Brothers!" The voice says.

"You have no right calling us your brothers the moment you become a greedy and lying bastard, La Kee!" The leader of the wolves continues.

There was a huge screeching sound that echoed all throughout the area once more as if something heavy was moved. Then, from the darkness in front of them, emerged a tall man about 7 feet tall. However, his height wasn't the main reason why Mi Young and Se Heon are gawking but because of the single eye on its forehead.

The tall Cyclops sighs as he regards his "brothers''. "No matter how many times I tell you that it wasn't me who did that, you guys will never listen."

"Because who would believe a liar, La Kee?" Alpha Ih Doo shouts as he points at the Cyclops who has a sad look on his face. "You've been lying to us the whole time and you even had the audacity to be greedy of the powers of the violet lamp grass when the Moon Goddess said that you should share it with anyone who needed it."

"You are right. I became selfish of the violet lamp grass and didn't share it with you."

"See! You're admitting it!" Ih Doo continues.

"However, I have my reasons."

The Alpha looked even angrier upon hearing what the Cyclops said. "Is there anything more important than the violet lamp grass and us?"

The Cyclops looked at the Alpha and the chief. He had a sad look on his face before he continued whatever he was about to say, "Before, the Moon Goddess and you guys were my top priority. How could I not when you guys are the only family I have? But then the Goddess gave me the duty to take care of the violet lamp grass so I feel even more responsible. And then, I had my own family. I still treat you guys as my precious gems but my family comes first. I even talked to the Moon Goddess about it, when I started having problems since I couldn't go out with you guys anymore because of my family and my duty. But she understood and told me to follow what my heart wants."

"What are you trying to say, brother?" Kah Moon Tii asks, stepping forward as he looks up to his brother.

The Cyclops crouches down as he sits on the stairs of the throne, looking tired and defeated. "What I'm trying to say is that the reason why I became selfish of the violet lamp grass and why I stopped meeting with you guys is because of my son."

"Your son? What about your son Uno?" Kah Moon Tii asks.

"You know how my Uno is. He's stubborn and he doesn't immediately listen to my words. But what can I do? He's still my son. My blood flows within him. One day, he ventured beyond the Silent Forest and he came stumbling down on a garden, not knowing that it was an area full of enemies." The Cyclops say. There was pity and sadness etched in his voice and Mi Young felt sad for him as well. "Then he made something that resulted in him being one of their prisoners. The enemy threatened me that if I don't give them the violet lamp grass they would kill my child. So I took the violet lamp grass away from you guys and gave some of them to the enemies in order to let them spare my son's life."

"What do you mean you gave them the violet lamp grass?"

"It was only a portion." The Cyclops says.

"Where's your son, brother?"

"Still at the hands of the enemy." The Cyclops answers. He looks at his brothers before saying, "If you wish to get some violet lamp grass feel free to do so but they're not here."

"Not here? The violet lamp grass is not here?" The chief of the dwarves steps forward once more, looking confused.

The Cyclops nodded his head and he looked so sorry that the black haired girl's heart felt like it's being crumpled. "The enemies took them all away. I tried to fight them off, but I failed since I lack abilities. And now, my son is still imprisoned along with all of my people. And the violet lamp grass were taken away as well."

It was true. That's why it felt like something was indeed wrong in the area because aside from the fact that there isn't any source of light, except for the torches, their whole p[lace was too silent. And it's the kind of silence where there are no other living organisms at all.

"Where are they?" Mi Young starts to ask. She couldn't stop herself from asking out of her curiosity.

"They were all taken away by the enemies."

"You keep telling us about these enemies. Who are they anyway?" Asked the leader of the wolves. Mi Young noticed that his angry demeanor earlier is now gone, replaced with some kind of pity and curiosity.

"The Seelies. They were all taken by the Seelies." The Cyclops answers.

The Alpha and the chief's eyes widened in shock. The color from their faces draining as well. It's as if all the blood in their body suddenly vanished, replaced with an ice cold feeling that crept all throughout their bones.

"S-Seelies." Chief Kah Moon Tii tries to say. "Your son became enemies with the Seelies?"

The Cyclops nodded his head.

The Alpha grips his hair in frustration as he starts to pace back and forth. "Of all the creatures you can become enemies with, why the Seelies?!"

"Believe me, I also reached the point where I wanted to do nothing with my son." The leader of the Cyclops starts to say. "But he's my family and you know how much we want to protect our family. You guys knew that given our bond together as family."

The chief of the dwarves sighs in defeat. "You're right. If it were my son, I would probably do the same. You did the right thing, brother."

"But how come the violet lamp grass went into the hands of the Seelies?" The Alpha asks as soon as he stops pacing.

"They attacked me. There was a rat in my people. This person told the Seelies the other way in order to get in here. And so they planned a surprise attack for me and my men." La Kee answers. "We were unprepared so we don't have that much power. They took away my people and all of the violet lamp grass."

"All of them?"

"All of them."

"So you mean to say maybe twenty violet lamp grass were taken?" The Alpha asks.

This time, the Cyclops looked surprised. "What do you mean twenty, brother? There are almost millions of violet lamp grass here."

"M-Millions? But I thought you stopped tending to them!"

The Cyclops shook his head lightly, knowing what the other party was talking about. "Even though the Moon Goddess cast us out here, we still continued our duty to take care of all the violet lamp grass. Although we were sad that we couldn't get to be with you guys, we don't have anything much to say given the fact that I did became selfish for the sake of my own son."

The Alpha and the chief of the dwarves remained silent, unable to utter a single word upon hearing the truth coming out from the mouth of their brother.

It was Mi Young who broke the silence. "If I may ask, do you happen to know where the Seelies are?"

"I do but that place is too dangerous. If you go in there, you will never come out once more." The Cyclops answered in a melancholic voice.

"Why?"

Chief Kah Moon Tii was the one who answered this time. "The Seelies have this spell chanted all over their kingdom where you will automatically chained to them the moment you taste any of their forbidden fruits. All the people, monsters, or beasts who tried to get there never came out as their self."

"Bind? How?"

"I don't know how they are able to trick all of their guests but all of them ended up tasting their forbidden fruits." The chief answers.

"Although everyone tries so hard to resist and not taste their offers, they will still be able to trick you in doing so." The Alpha added. He sits on the ground below before he continues, "They say that the forbidden fruit in their kingdom were all given by the Dark Witch, Vexanalla. This fruit is connected to their Queen which is why you will automatically belong to them once you get a taste of their fruit."

"So you mean to say, there's no hope for the people of the Cyclops?"

The Alpha and the chief of the dwarves didn't answer Se Heon's question. They just looked at the leader of the Cyclops in pity and somehow, Se Heon and Mi Young both knew what that look meant.

"How I wish I could have told my people that I am so proud of all of them before they were abducted." The Cyclops say. There was a small smile on his lips but the happiness didn't reach his eyes.

Another silence enveloped their atmosphere, with the leader of the Cyclops feeling at loss and his two brothers taking pity on him and his situation.

Se Heon was no help at all since his eyes are still wandering everywhere.

Mi Young couldn't shake off the heavy feeling in her heart so she thought of something and came up with a dangerous offer.

"Take me to the kingdom of the Seelies." The black haired girl bravely says.

The leader of the Cyclops looked at her with empty eyes. "What would you do there?"

"I'll take back your people, including your son, as well as the violet lamp grass." Mi Young says, determination evident in her voice and expression.

"You don't understand how powerful these Seelies are." The Alpha says.

Mi Young sees the Cyclops nod his head in agreement. "He's right. They're very dangerous. There is no escaping them."

The black hired girl looked at the chief of the dwarves, asking for his help in order to say "yes" to her offer. But the chief only shakes his head with sadness.

Mi Young's shoulder immediately slumped as her offer got rejected. She knows she can still go there on her own but without their support and guidance, she knows she wouldn't stand a chance with the Queen, especially if she has something up on her sleeves she didn't know of.

Se Heon, who somehow doesn't like the look displayed on the girl's face, felt the need to do something just to erase that sad expression. "How come you know she can't do anything when we haven't tried yet?"

"Boy, many have tried but they all failed."

"Mi Young is different." Se Heon says. Mi Young looked at him in confusion, she doesn't know why the other party was trying to help her do something dangerous when all he did was stop her before. "She's the girl from the prophecy remember? Earlier, you would have never imagined that you will be able to step on this land ever again. But you did just because of her!"

Se Heon says as he looks at the chief of the dwarves. Suddenly, there was hope in his eyes. "You're right. The Moon Goddess is never wrong with her prophecies. I think the elemental hero can really do something."

"Right? I'll also go with her so I can help."

"Do you really think we can do this?" The leader of the Cyclops starts to say. There was hope evident in his once empty eyes. "Please tell me you can do this."

Mi Young walks closer towards him. Although their height difference is huge, she still looked somehow intimidating and brave. "I promise you I'll bring everyone back safely."

The Cyclops looked at her and he looked like he was about to cry before he nodded his head as he stood up. "Very well, I'll take you there."

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