Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

“Nicha, is this what you really want? A journey that may cost your life?”

“Yes, Papa. I need to do this for my sake and the clan’s as well. I wouldn't want our clan to lose face just because of me…”

“Please take care, our loved one,” her mother whispered, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. “Come home to us once your heart is at peace, alright Nicha?”

“I will, Mama. I promise.”

It is year 502 in the realm of elements, otherwise referred to as Neverland. One-and-a-half years have gone by after Minnie abandoned the luxuries of her hometown, not because of her inability to exert any power, but from fear of what she could do.

The Yontararak clan is known to have a history of elegance and preciseness in their use of fire. However, Minnie was an anomaly due to the fact that she had an internally dysfunctional body system—an unstable elemental chakra that seemed as if it were a raging ocean inside her. Every time she sought to use the characteristic Pyro of her family, it only resulted in pain. A backlash that would leave her on fire and could very well destroy whatever was around her.

To her clan, she was more than just a failure—she was a liability. A disgrace to her kind, which is why she should never be allowed near their holy altars lest she burn everything into ash.

As a student at the academy, Minnie transformed into a ghost. As other students honed their sparks, Minnie honed her silence. She took up martial arts practice not because she felt passionate about it, but because she needed it. One would never survive if they didn't master a single thing in their world. 

She was not completely alone in her quest. She had her anchors.

There was Yuqi, a Geo wielder with a claymore who had the ability to control the weather, and her partner Soyeon, an Electro prodigy with the ability to turn into a lightning strike at will. They spent many nights in the training pits, assisting Minnie in developing movement rhythms that did not set off her internal explosion.

Then there was Soojin and Shuhua. Soojin was a Dendro swordswoman who could read the memories of the earth with only a touch of a leaf. Next to her stood Shuhua, who wielded both the Anemo and Cryo elements. She preferred to remain in the shade of Soojin's limelight rather than bask in her own glory. No one knew better than Shuhua what it felt like to have “too much” power—she was always found in the shadows with Minnie to help the latter remain composed.

Lastly, there was Minnie, a martial arts expert and well-known as the prominent daughter who was never allowed to touch her elemental power within Neverland. She felt pressured at how her friends were literal prodigies in their respective clans and elements, but they never made Minnie feel like she wasn't one of them. They took Minnie’s weakness into something they respected and adored because that’s just how she is.

All four of her friends accompanied her in her journey of breaking the curse despite telling them not to. They all just shrugged and explained how they wanted to help Minnie in achieving her dream of controlling her element at will. In any way they can. And so, Minnie had no choice but to let them be, but only with the promise of not wasting their elemental chakra for her. 

Currently, they're trekking the Northern mountains of Neverland, as Minnie believes what she's looking for is around this place. She has a source for her belief, an ancient book found in her clan’s archives. The book entitled “The Beginning of the End of Hydro” held many secrets of her clan and element, and so it was told that the Hydro element is the one that can help Minnie master her craft. The details were brief though, as one can only flip to the next chapter with her powers. 

Minnie can actually use her powers to an extent, only with the guidance of her parents and clanmates. She was given an ancient artifact by their clan, a metal bracelet which was perpetually cold could stop the uncontrollable surge of the elemental chakra within Minnie. She could only take it off for a short time, seconds even, before her chakra runs wild and hurts herself and the ones around her. With the help of the bracelet, she could flip through the ancient book’s chapters, but she could only do it in just a few seconds. 

Scared to hurt her friends, she settled on journeying with them with the book opened to its first chapter, courtesy with the help of her twin brothers, Mic and Mac. The first chapter held the secrets of the world, not only for their clan’s pyro powers but the whole background of how their world came to be because of the hydro element. 

Entry 1 – Hydro and its End, or is it not the end?

Hydro, an element, or more known as water, has been banned from usage for decades already because they started a cataclysm about 500 years ago due to their ability to blood bend as well and their refusal to use their abilities to help progress the healing knowledge of their world. Their wielders disappeared due to the ban of their powers and no one knows if they still exist or if they truly banished from this world, along with their element. 

Among many of the abilities of such hydro wielder, blood bending is the most tragic and dangerous form of power that can kill thousands, heck, even millions if their elemental chakra is honed to a certain degree. 

Blood bending, discovered by the Hydro’s first wielder, is at first a great addition to their healing abilities. Being able to wield and control blood inside of their patients, it is a quick way for them to discover what's wrong with their blood. Their first wielder vowed to the Heavenly Gods not to use this ability in vain and they allowed her, trusting the hydro wielder to maintain peace in the world. 

Alas, peace is always bound to be broken. As the Hydro’s first wielder dies tragically with a disease no hydro wielder could identify and heal, they start to rebel and fight the Heavenly Gods for letting their leader die. Cataclysm starts, blood bending immediately becoming something people feared for. Healing with powers deemed impossible because of Hydro’s refusal to use it again on other people; dendro wielders made it possible yet it comes with a great price. 

No one knows how Hydro disappeared and how the cataclysm ended decades later. Some say the Heavenly Gods have removed it entirely in the world because they saw how dangerous it was. Some say its wielders have moved to another planet, or place, no one’s really sure, to pursue their elemental exploration by themselves without the Heavenly Gods interfering with them. But there is one rumor that is believed by mostly everyone: 

Hydro wielders have adapted to wield another element, making them live their lives as an act, hiding their true element to the public and only unbeknownst among them. 

With this in mind, I tried my best to seek the world, Neverland, to look for left behind sightings of this element. The last I heard of them was that they were in the Northern mountains, and I am on the way there as I continue writing this. As we go through this book, or diary of mine, you will soon discover more hidden mysteries of the Hydro element. Curiosities will be answered, cruelty to the element will soon dissipate. 

Hydro is such a wonderful element. How I pity them for having to use their abilities in vain. This world would've been better with that element, as pyro wielders will most likely be more attracted to them due to how their powers control each other’s weaknesses. 

We will go through that in another entry, if I am still able to write for this. I have done my part in introducing Hydro and blood bending. Now, it's your part to start seeking for answers as well before I give it all to you. Who knows, you may find better answers than mine. Best of luck to my pyro wielders, we will find hydro for us. For our future. 

– signed KTY, first pyro wielder of this cruel world of ours. 

Minnie is reminded by the immense pressure of the word in the first chapter of the book, and her right hand naturally moves to grasp onto her bracelet, playing with it as her nerves grow tense. Shuhua immediately notices the change in her friend’s mood and rushes to make snowflakes rain on them to distract her from her deafening thoughts. 

“Minnie unnie, do you want to take a rest?” Shuhua asks, moving closer to her friend to hold her hand, almost pulling away when she feels how hot her hand was. This was a common occurrence, as Minnie’s internal chakra seemed to get more wild whenever the pyro wielder was lost in her thoughts. 

Shuhua mixes her wind and cool powers, effectively calming down the raging storm inside Minnie’s head. The pyro wielder shakes her head to get back to reality, smiling when she notices how Shuhua had made efforts to lessen her burden. 

“Thank you, Shu. I need no rest, I was just reminded how long our journey has already been and we still haven't made any progress,” Minnie sighs a breath of guilt, her face turning into a frown. “I just feel bad because you all could've honed your skills in the peace and warmth of our academy.”

Soyeon stops in her tracks and faces Minnie and Shuhua, her eyebrows furrowed. “You're not a burden to us, Min. We chose to go with you, we wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you when we’re gone.”

Yuqi moves to her girlfriend’s side and nods aggressively, “Yeah! And besides, we make stopovers in our journey to train. That itself is enough for us, so don't worry too much! We will help you with what we can.”

“I agree, experience is a great way to develop our skills. You mustn't feel guilty about us joining you, this is also for our own clan’s sake. Who knows, maybe this thing we're looking for will affect the world.” Soojin says, earning agreement from the others. 

Shuhua clings onto Soojin before giving a thumbs up to Minnie, clearly showing all her support to the older one. The pyro wielder smiles, her eyes filled with tears threatening to flow. 

“Thank you, guys, I wouldn't have lived to this day if it weren't for you.” Minnie’s tense body started to calm down, her body temperature dropping slowly to normal as the chakra in her was getting quiet due to her mind shutting up. 

“Alright then, let's go find a place to stay for a few days to take a rest and train a bit. We also have to restock our supplies for the weeks to come, I can definitely feel we will find something soon.” Soyeon announces and everyone agrees. They grab their bags and weapons with them, soon continuing the journey where they left off. 

With Minnie’s mind finally at tranquility, the confidence in herself and her friends suddenly channeled within her, making her smile widely as she looked at each of her friends. Despite being behind them by a million miles in wielding her power, they never judged her for it and even encouraged her to keep going until she could fully master her element. 

She wouldn't trade her friends for anything in this world, which is why she is determined to find the signs she's looking for so that she is one step closer to her goal. 

She's already far in her journey and backing down now would be a coward move from her. If she wanted to prove her worth to her clan, then so be it. She is now ready to risk her life for everything, for her own and clan’s sake. 

With the help of her friends, anything is possible. 

“KTY, guide me in my journey…” Minnie pondered with her fingers running along the chill surface of her bracelet. In front of her, the Northern mountains rose, their peaks sharp as the teeth of predators, concealing mysteries that lay buried for five centuries. Minnie was no longer a disappointment to the Yontararak family. She was a pursuer of the truth.

Chapter Text

After trekking the mountains for hours and the sun was already beginning to set, they finally settled in an abandoned small hut in the middle of the mountains. Soyeon decided for all of them that they would settle here for a few days first before continuing their journey. Soojin then suggested that they could train first thing in the morning tomorrow, and they have all come into agreement with that. 

Soojin picked out some sticks outside to become torches, ensuring that the sticks were already dried and dead as she doesn't want to harm her plant friends. She handed them to Soyeon, who rubbed her hands as quickly as she could to generate an electric current, a makeshift power source for the sticks to light up. Once done, Yuqi placed them around the hut, tucking them to the wall by punching holes with her finger, such a move from her was done with ease. 

Seeing her friends do everything for her, Minnie’s heart swells at her adoration for them. She wanted to help them as well, offering her power so that Soyeon won't put more effort into generating heat, but she couldn't, and that makes her guilty about everything. 

Shuhua immediately notices her change in mood as always, moving close to her as she uses a mix of her anemo and cryo powers to cool her up in an instant. 

“Unnie, let's take a rest? I’ll make sure to keep you all cooled up in your sleep.” Shuhua clings onto her like a koala and Minnie moves to hug her precious friend tightly. 

“Thank you always, Shu. You make me less worried with my powers going spiral, I just know you're there to make me feel safe.” 

Soojin smiles as she notices Minnie and Shuhua’s closeness, moving quickly to settle on the other side of the pyro wielder. 

“Even if cryo and anemo isn't enough to cool you down, Shushuwill always try her best for you, Min. The same goes for us. We will make sure to keep you safe, for as long as we finish this journey,” Soojin grabs Minnie’s hand and the pyro wielder immediately feels something else in her hand. She looks down and sees a small plant, looking like a mouse, a makeshift plushie that Soojin always gives her whenever she wants to comfort her. 

Minnie holds it before moving it close to her heart, feeling content and happy in the comfort that her friends provide her. She's very thankful for them for being here, and she promises that she will make it up to them as soon as she has control over her powers. The three of them fell asleep soon after, their hands tangled with one another. 

Soyeon and Yuqi coos at the sight, admiring their friendship as a whole. They've decided to guard them for the night, hand in hand, with Yuqi’s shield surrounding the whole hut to keep them protected from any possible danger. 

Tomorrow will be a new day of discoveries and all five of them can't help but be excited for what's to come. This journey of theirs, as mentioned, is not only to help Minnie find her solution to her lifelong problem—this is to gain experience as well so they could progress their elemental skills and become more capable of handling more elemental energy. 

If they truly need to rebel against the Heavenly Gods as well when they learn of the truth of this world, they will need not to worry about dying; they will be trained and honed enough by that time—if it only does happen. 

The summer night offered little to none relief for Minnie, as the temperature kept rising and the chakra within her kept her awake most of the time. If not for Shuhua’s efforts, she would've caused a major tragedy already. The dormant fire within her is agitated, and this is why she hates summer the most. Her body can't keep up with the natural summer heat and she felt as though she were a furnace in a glass house. 

The dawn didn't bring a cool breeze, unfortunate for Minnie, but it brought a bright, blinding glare. The sun’s rays hit her face and it was the cue for her to open her eyes, sit up, and breathe in and out deeply as her hair and clothes damp from the summer humidity and her own internal fever. 

The silver on her wrist didn't do good as well, it was also hot to touch, humming with the strains of a thousand suns. 

Due to her abrupt movement, it wakes Shuhua up, immediately feeling how hot it already was. “Unnie…” She mutters as she opens her eyes, looking for her Minnie unnie. She sees her catching her breath due to the immense heat, so she moves to hug her and release more of her cryo mist to cool down her friend. 

“I can't believe it's already this hot… You should’ve woken me up, unnie,” Shuhua caresses Minnie’s back to help her stabilize her breathing, her cold hands doing its job in maintaining homeostasis in her unnie’s body. “You don't have to suffer alone, y’know?”

“I also just woke up,” Minnie manages to say as her breathing normalises, moving to face Shuhua with tears brimming in her eyes. “The heat today is different… It wasn't like this last year.” 

“Yeah, it wasn't,” A voice suddenly appears and it startles both Minnie and Shuhua, the owner of the voice chuckling as she rubs off the sleep in her eyes. “Good morning.” Soojin moves to cuddle Shuhua and presses a kiss on her shoulder. 

“You shouldn't scare us like that, baobei,” Shuhua scolds her girlfriend but leans onto Soojin who was hugging her from behind. “Good morning too.” She greets as she feels another kiss on her nape. 

Minnie just shakes her head and smiles at her friends being lovey dovey early in the morning. She then notices how Soyeon and Yuqi weren't by the door like she expected, her eyebrows furrowing with curiosity.

“Where’s Soyeon and Yuqi?” Minnie asks, getting Soojin and Shuhua’s attention in an instant as they also look in the direction their two other friends were supposed to be. 

Minnie feels her stomach drop and she begins to sweat uncontrollably, her guts telling her that something had happened while they were asleep. Soojin quickly moves to sit up straight, summoning a ball full of dendro elemental energy in her hands, before collapsing in Shuhua’s arms. 

“Soo, you shouldn't use that…” Minnie’s worried and frantic face turned to the dendro ball who was smiling at her before it made its way to the pyro wielder, patting her knee. 

“It's safer this way, unnie,” Shuhua waves at the dendro ball who had walked itself to the door, waving back to the anemo-cryo wielder and disappearing from their sight. “Cherry will be back soon after she finds Soyeon and Yuqi, don't worry.” 

“I’m just worried about how this affects Soojin…” Minnie frowns at the door where her friends had disappeared from, and Shuhua just holds her to try to calm her down. 

Cherry, a dendro ball that Soojin created, is a lifeform where the dendro wielder can put almost all her consciousness in and it can act as her third eye and mind. It helps Soojin go to other places and do her tasks without having to move her own body. The biggest con for this skill is that her own body loses its ability to function, hence why she collapsed earlier. Another con of this is that it uses too much elemental energy and can strain Soojin’s abilities if used too long. 

“Tell Soojin to be quick...” Minnie’s still worried about her friend but Shuhua just shrugs, puts all her trust in her girlfriend in knowing her own limits. 

“Baobei, be careful, okay?” Shuhua whispers to Soojin’s ear, smiling as she watches the dendro wielder’s body respond unconsciously to her girlfriend’s voice. “Minnie’s too worried about you.”

Minnie has no choice but to wait until she gets an update from her friends. All she can do is to trust them and keep her calm to prevent any drastic damage to herself and to her friends. 

Meanwhile, Soojin, whose conscience is currently in her dendro ball, Cherry, is looking for traces and clues of where her friends might be. She’s already talked to the dendro lifeforms and plants around her but all of them didn't know where they went, only telling her their last location. 

Cherry stops by a cliff, noticing a burn mark on the ground with bits of crushed rock around it. It's none other than traces left by Soyeon and Yuqi, but she doesn't know which direction they went after. Confused, she tries to foresee the past of the plants around her, but still sees no other signs of them. 

Feeling her power getting weaker, she decides to come back to her real body by dissipating in the air and immediately, her consciousness comes back to the dendro wielder. 

Slowly, Soojin opens her eyes and sees Minnie’s worried expression in front of her. She reaches out and holds the pyro wielder’s cheek in her hand, caressing it to make her relax into her touch, letting her know she's alright and there's nothing to worry about. 

“I’m okay, Min, you don't have to worry,” Soojin chuckles before moving her other hand to pinch her girlfriend’s nose, Shuhua grunting in response. “I found their last location, it's by the cliff going west. From there, I’m not sure where they went. Even the grass doesn't know where they are right now.” 

“Should we go there ourselves and see where they went?” Shuhua asks and Soojin agrees in an instant, curiosity at its peak as to why her plant friends didn't know where Soyeon and Yuqi went. “I could, y’know, scream at the top of my lungs and push the sound in every direction with my wind… and wait for their response with the change in the wind current.” 

Minnie wants to laugh at Shuhua’s suggestion but it actually makes a lot of sense and a great way to show off her powers, just in an unexpected and funny way. She then agrees with the anemo-cryo wielder’s idea before moving to grab her bag, her friends following to do the same thing. 

Once they were ready, they quickly moved to where Cherry last spotted them and searched for clues, not without Minnie having snow raining upon her, courtesy of Shuhua’s powers to prevent her friend from overheating. 

Minnie jumps in her place as she hears Shuhua scream outloud, clutching her chest at the surprise. 

“Soyeon unnie! Yuqi-ah! Scream back if you hear me!” Shuhua immediately pushed her screams’ loudness with her wind current into every direction, ignoring Minnie’s complaints. 

Soojin laughs loudly at the suddenness of her girlfriend, hitting Shuhua on her shoulder softly. Minnie scratches her head at her friend’s silliness despite the seriousness of the situation. Shuhua never fails to make her feel light and comfortable whenever needed. 

The dendro wielder tries her best to communicate with her plant friends but gets confused as to why they won't answer back, her power unable to see the past of the plants. She tries again at another tree by the cliff but still gets nothing.

“Huh…” The dendro wielder tries again and again with the surrounding flowers and grass but gets nothing. It seemed as if they were asleep, their powers dormant with keeping its memory. “Something is wrong with this area, I really can't see their past.” 

Upon hearing Soojin’s explanation, Shuhua notices a change in the wind current. It suddenly blew into their direction, opposite as it was just moments ago. She soon hears a faint voice, eerily familiar, but can't pinpoint who exactly it was. 

“I heard someone, it's not Soyeon or Yuqi. It's someone I know, but I can't remember who,” Shuhua’s forehead was creased with confusion, using all her gear power to rack up the name of that someone. “The wind suddenly blew to us, but I still can't hear Soyeon and Yuqi.” 

Soojin tries harder and makes an effort to wake the dendro lifeforms from their slumber, but all is to no use as they still are dormant in nature. “There's something muting this area. We have to find it.” 

While Minnie was listening to her friends’ observations, she kept on wandering around to find some more traces left behind by Soyeon and Yuqi. To her surprise, she sees an odd mark on the ground, seemingly a footprint, but it looks as if it’s new as the soil is still soft. 

“Soo! Shu! I think I found something.” Immediately hearing their names, they ran to where Minnie was standing while looking at the ground. Soojin quickly touches the grass that was surrounding it but receives no answer, the area was still affecting the dendro lifeforms around it. 

Minnie reaches down beside Soojin, her fingers hovering just inches above the damp soil. To her surprise, the silver on her wrist stops raging for a split second, her inner turmoil following as well. 

“It’s cold,” Minnie whispered, her eyes widening as her body reacted unexpectedly to the soil. “The ground here… it's not just wet, it's freezing. But not like Shuhua’s ice, it feels… deep.”

The pyro wielder is confused as to why her body is suddenly calm, not just because of Shuhua’s snow above her, but also because of this… muddy soil. But her body reacts to it only for a few seconds before her bracelet becomes warm again, and her inner chakra goes into a spiral once more. 

“Huh?” Minnie could barely register her body’s reaction to it before she felt Shuhua pull her away from the soil, Soojin trying to force out vines from the ground beside it but her elemental power simply flickered and died. 

“You shouldn't touch that, unnie.” Shuhua says before freezing Minnie’s hands in place, sparing her a few seconds of silence from the pyro wielder as she kneels down beside her girlfriend to try her own powers on the mud. 

Shuhua tries her anemo powers first, testing if she could move the soil with the strong wind current she’s making… it does not, and she wonders why. So she uses her cryo powers next, attempting to harden the dampness of the soil, but her efforts are nothing compared to it. 

"It's like a black hole for energy. Whatever stepped here didn't just leave a mark, they drained the life out of the soil to do it." Soojin manages to say before moving to stand up, pulling Shuhua with her to do the same. 

Minnie wonders why she didn't react the same way as her friends, heck, it was even the opposite. She suddenly felt free from her inner turmoil, her elemental energy surging within her body as calmly as it could. But she makes no move to say it to her friends, finding Soyeon and Yuqi matters first. 

“Let's follow the trail.” Soojin leads the way where the damp soil continues, the air around them getting colder the farther they go into the woods. The trees around them felt eerily different, and Soojin couldn't use her powers at will to communicate with them. 

The ice on Minnie’s hands had long melted away already but she could still feel the coldness, her bracelet also cool to touch. She toys with it with her fingers, making sure to observe it the longer time they spend trekking the woods following the trail. 

Shuhua hears something in the air, the sound getting closer and closer to them. She warns her dendro girlfriend of someone else being near them, the voice of that person familiar but also foreign. 

Minnie could only follow them, keeping all her discoveries a secret for now, as she continues to toy with the bracelet.

Before Soojin and Minnie could react, Shuhua suddenly dashes away from them, both of them hearing the anemo-cryo wielder screaming in anger. They decided to make a run for it, wanting to seek answers about what made Shuhua do such a thing. 

They see Shuhua angrily stomping in the distance, seemingly talking to another person. Then, they hear more muffled voices that are familiar. It was Soyeon and Yuqi… but who was the other one?

As they arrive at the scene, Minnie halts in her place. She sees Soyeon and Yuqi stuck in their positions, pale and tired, looking like their elemental energy was sucked from them. She wanted to go to them, ask what happened, but a hand stopped her from doing so. The hand held her arm, felt cool to her touch. 

Minnie slowly looks to the side, curious who would do such a thing when Shuhua and Soojin were behind her. Her breath gets caught in her throat, her eyes dilating, and her body warming up all of a sudden with her internal chakra spiraling out of control. 

She is face to face with a woman, striking a similarity to the angels she saw in one of the ancient books her family owned. The world around her disappears, feeling her heart racing like it would jump out of her body. She could feel her face heating up, her palms sweating, the eery coldness she felt a second ago now long gone. 

“You shouldn't go there,” The woman says before moving to let go of Minnie’s arm, “Something happened here and no one knows what. We should be careful.” Minnie already misses the feeling of the woman’s cool touch but instantly gets reminded of the situation at hand. She shakes her head, making one last look at the woman before facing Soojin and Shuhua, who were arguing behind her. 

“I’m Miyeon,” The woman beside her introduces herself, offering her hand to her. This makes Minnie look back at her again. She tries her best to act normal at the ethereal woman in front of her, wiping her sweating palms on her pants before taking Miyeon’s hand in hers for a handshake. “This isn't an ideal time for introductions and all, but still it's nice to meet you. I’m a cryo wielder and bow user.”

Minnie scratches the back of her neck, trying to come up with something to say, but her line of thought is ruined by her friends’ loud voices.

What came after was in stark contrast with the calm she stood with next to her. Shuhua was currently kneeling down amid their two friends that had collapsed, trying to shake Soyeon awake with all her heart.

“Unnie! Wake up! Yuqi, open your eyes right now or else I'm gonna ice your claymore to the ground!” The echoes of her voice resounded throughout the canyon.

“Shu, hold on! You’re putting way too much energy out there! You’re just making it worse!” Soojin tried grabbing onto Shuhua as her hands rested above the cold face of Soyeon, searching for any trace of awareness not overwhelmed by the blue light. “Quiet down, you’re going to wake whatever did this!”

Minnie glanced back at her friends and then turned to the woman whose touch seemed to leave a chill wherever she had laid her hand. The summer heat was blazing its way through the atmosphere, burning into the dry rock, but Minnie suddenly saw everything clearly.

She released her grasp on Miyeon’s hand.

The movement was slow and deliberate. When Minnie straightened up, the silver bracelet around her wrist hummed, but it was not just humming. It was singing.

Minnie’s surroundings were no longer glowing in a frenzied mess like before; they glowed with the kind of dignity that came with high pressure.

There was a moment when the “raging ocean” inside her quieted down. In its place was warmth, so warm it was like the sun.

She stared directly into Miyeon’s eyes, and the latter could not tell what she was thinking about.

“I’m Minnie,” she said. “A pyro wielder.”

She didn’t even give time for a response. Neither did she provide any form of thanks. She merely headed for the “muted” area with a graceful gait that didn’t befit her claim of being an anomaly. With each step, she was pulling away from the effect of the blue glow; her mere presence served as a natural heat shield for her companions.

In her wake, Miyeon remained rooted to the spot.

The warmth from their palms seemed to have been branded by some primordial force. The aura—the sheer power of the heat emanated by Minnie.

Miyeon held her breath as she watched Minnie, wearing her scruffy trek clothes, boldly walk into the center of the anomaly.

Her hand hung in the air for a moment too long as she stared at the movements of Minnie. Never before had she come across a force as powerful yet grounded.

Pyro wielder, thought Miyeon as she tightened her hold on her bow.

She stayed perfectly still for a while, stunned by the trail of warmth that Minnie left behind.

Finally, with Soyeon and Yuqi relying on Shuhua and Soojin's support, with breaths coming fast yet steady, the crisis seemed to have been temporarily averted. The "silence," muted by the cliffside, was slowly being taken over by the buzzing sound of cicadas during the summer.

Minnie was standing at the edge of the crowd, unconsciously placing her hand on her bracelet. It felt cold, so dangerously cold, that it tried to mask the presence of the aura that she had just exhibited. She cast her gaze back to the ridge where she first met the stranger.

Miyeon remained there with her bow resting on her back, staring at Minnie in a way that was impossible to decipher. She did not seem like a wanderer, nor did she appear like any other cryo wielder.

"Coming?" Minnie called out, even though she did not feel as confident as her voice sounded.

There was a pause before Miyeon responded by adjusting her hold on the bow and descending from the rocks without making a single noise. Falling into step behind them, Minnie felt the odd feeling of coldness return as if to remind her that their hunt for Hydro was far from over.

Chapter Text

“We should get them back to the hut.” Soojin says as she moves Soyeon behind her, carrying the electro wielder on her back. Shuhua moves to do the same with Yuqi but struggles to keep the geo wielder in place as she reaches out for her friend’s heavy claymore. 

Before Minnie could move to help her friends out, a shadow moves beside her to get there quicker.  “I’ll take that.” Miyeon grabs the claymore with ease, placing it on her back, replacing it with the bow that was originally there. She held her bow, clutched it to her chest, before moving to start walking ahead. 

Minnie tilts her head in confusion, how could someone easily lift a geo wielder’s claymore without breaking a sweat? She's a cryo wielder at that, an element that makes its wielder a bit weaker compared to other element wielders, Shuhua not included as she also wielded anemo which makes her a bit stronger. 

“Let’s go, Minnie-yah.” Soojin pats her shoulder before walking ahead as well with Shuhua following her. The pyro wielder just sighs in disbelief, having no choice but to follow her friends yet again. 

The four of them made themselves comfortable in the small hut, breathing in the mustiness of dried herbs and the metallic smell left behind by Soyeon’s depleted Electro energy.

Soojin wasted no time. Although the strain showed clearly in the slump of her shoulders, she knelt down in the middle of Soyeon and Yuqi. Closing her eyes, she pressed her palms to their chests, which emitted a faint glow of soft emerald green light. This was her signature Dendro resonance, something she was able to perfect in healing people.

“I can wake them,” Soojin whispered, furrowing her brows in concentration. “I just need to boost their life energy—”

“Don’t.”

It was a clear-cut order, slicing through the silence like a knife. Soojin barely managed to stop herself from channeling any more energy when Miyeon suddenly reached out and grabbed her wrist.

The green glow emanating from the palms of Soojin dimmed and disappeared. Shuhua gave out a menacing growl, reaching for the handle of her sword. However, Minnie did not move, staring intently at Miyeon’s face.

“Let go of her,” Shuhua said through clenched teeth. The temperature inside the hut suddenly dropped several degrees.

Miyeon did not listen to her and did not release Soojin. 

“If you pour Dendro energy into them now, you’ll kill them,” she said indifferently.

“I beg your pardon?” Soojin exclaimed in surprise, raising her eyebrows. “I am a healer, my energy brings life.”

“That’s true in usual conditions,” Miyeon said and released Soojin’s wrist. “But this ‘mud’ that they were wading in? It wasn’t just ordinary soil. It contained Hydro residues. They’re like sponges absorbing life energy. Right now, these residues are lying in their blood vessels, waiting for the moment to activate. What do you think will happen if you inject Dendro energy into them?”

Minnie’s eyes opened wide as the truth sank in. “It will grow,” she muttered. “That stagnant energy will consume the power of Soojin and thrive within them.”

Miyeon gave Minnie an approving look. “Right. The more they allow the poison to circulate within themselves, the more they’ll end up cultivating the poison that shouldn’t even exist within them. Let the warmth of the sun dry everything up. Slowly. And carefully.”

Soojin stared at her own hands, where the emerald glow had vanished entirely. She looked horrified, finally grasping just how dangerously close she had come to doing something catastrophic.

“Why do you know so much about this ‘poison that shouldn’t exist’?” Soojin questioned, her tone a mixture of both suspicion and gratitude.

Miyeon did not respond right away. She went to the door and gazed outside at the mountain peaks shrouded in darkness. “Some memories are best kept buried in the past, but there is always a way in which the past intrudes into the present. Let them rest. By midnight, they will be up.”

Minnie observed the figure of the stranger under the light of the moon. Miyeon was essentially binding their powers, preventing them from doing what they do best. This was a chilling prospect, but Minnie could not help but think that for once, since this entire journey started, they might actually make it through the heat wave.

Shuhua moves to Soojin’s side, hugging the dendro wielder tightly to try and comfort her after almost making their situation worse than it already is. 

There are so many questions left unanswered lingering in their minds, and Miyeon’s arrival just added up to their burden. 

All they could do is to wait for Soyeon and Yuqi to wake up on their own, huddled up in the small hut that seemed to be cooler than last night, making Minnie comfortable enough to settle next to Shuhua without making the anemo-cryo wielder exert effort in cooling her down. 

Just as they were getting cozy in their positions, Shuhua suddenly bolted from her position and began spewing nonsense words that made it difficult for Soojin and Minnie to understand her. 

“Calm down, jagi,” Soojin grabs hold of Shuhua’s arms and makes her sit down again, summoning vines from the ground to keep her girlfriend in place. “What suddenly popped in your mind, Shu?” 

Shuhua tries to remove the vines from her legs but fails when they only get tighter the more she moves. She then lets out a sigh of disbelief before catching her breath to explain what she had in mind. 

“I suddenly remembered how I knew Miyeon,” Shuhua says, immediately getting Soojin and Minnie’s attention. “She’s a cryo wielder, right? So it's natural that I should know her… well, I do actually know her!” Shuhua clasps her hands in excitement, Soojin slapping her shoulder to get her focused on explaining her thoughts. 

“Ouch, but anyway! Miyeon’s my senior in our cryo clan. My mother and her father were arranged to get married so they could lead our clan, but my father got in the way and married my mom instead! The moment I turned ten and Miyeon turned twelve, she got reported missing and we never found traces of her since then. Never thought I would find her here… that’s why when I heard her voice, it was eerily familiar to me. Miyeon was the one who taught me how to build a snowman with our powers.”

“Your senior?” Soojin murmured, releasing her hold on the vines, trying to assimilate what she heard. “Shu, are you sure? That happened over ten years ago, after all. People can change.”

“Yes! I am!” Shuhua replied, her voice taking on a panicked tone. “From the way she holds her bow, to how her voice is like an ice bell—nothing about her has changed since then. My mother told me that Miyeon’s family had the purest Cryo bloodline amongst all in our clan. She said that Miyeon’s family was the ‘Ice Architect’ of the Northern Clan.”

Minnie felt a shiver run down her spine. If this young woman hailed from a distinguished Cryo family, then her disappearance could not have been anything else but a political intrigue or even worse, tragedy.

"If she’s been missing for seven years," Minnie began, worry evident in her tone, "then where has she been? How does she know about whatever’s been going on here in the mountains?"

No sooner had the words escaped Minnie’s lips when the shadow by the doorway moved. The girl named Miyeon made no move to turn, but somehow the tension in her shoulders eased a little, like a burden was finally lifted from them.

"You’ve always been a noisy little one, Shuhua," Miyeon whispered, with a tone they had not yet heard her use before, full of some sort of hidden smile.

Shuhua paused. The plants that Soojin made to hold her girlfriend in place withered away, finally letting Shuhua go as she got back onto her feet. But she didn’t go near Miyeon; she just stared, her eyes full of tears as she tried to recognize her past.

“Do you remember?” she managed to choke out.

Miyeon turned around at last, the moonlight shining through her silver bow and crystal-clear eyes. “You remember the snowman? How you refused to put a carrot on its face since you wouldn’t want to ‘waste’ any real ones, and then you cried because the sun melted it?”

Shuhua gave a cry that was a mixture of both laughter and tears, and despite Soojin’s attempts to stop her, Shuhua dashed forward once more. This time, Miyeon didn’t stop her; she even embraced the young girl tightly.

Minnie observed them, feeling both relieved and confused. To see Miyeon holding onto Shuhua was to see someone more human than angelic or ancient, the way Minnie had perceived her earlier. However, there was still the question of how she could be the missing Cryo princess but she was here, watching over "Hydro-mud" in a scorched summer mountain range.

Minnie looked down at her silver bracelet, which was beating rhythmically, almost satisfied.

"If you're the missing Cryo heir," Minnie said, breaking the emotional moment, "then why are you out here? Why didn't you return?"

Miyeon peered over Shuhua's shoulder, making eye contact with Minnie. The warmth from before was gone, replaced by a hauntingly old look in her eyes.

"Because home is where the eyes of the gods are fixed," Miyeon responded, lowering her voice. "I've uncovered some things in these mountains that have been buried for five hundred years. If I go back there, I won’t be missing, I’ll be dead."

There was an oppressive silence in the room. Shuhua continued to hold onto Miyeon tightly, her head buried in the arms of the senior, finally getting a hold of her childhood amidst the chaotic path life had taken for her.

Soojin glanced at Minnie and then at the two cryo wielders. The revelation that Miyeon was a fugitive of one of the highest clans in Neverland changed everything.  Not only did the girls have something else to think about now aside from fixing Minnie’s chakra, but they were also bound to a woman carrying secrets powerful enough to bring the heavens crashing down to Earth.

“Is this why you’re here? To defend what they wanted to keep hidden?” asked Minnie.

Gently pulling herself away from Shuhua, Miyeon placed both hands on the girl’s shoulders and looked at all of them in turn—Minnie’s silver bracelet included.

“It’s all because the mountains do not lie, Minnie,” Miyeon replied. “The elements are shrieking. The summer is heating up because the Earth is losing its balance. And who can understand it better than you? This fire inside your chest, it’s not a curse, but rather a response to the void that Gods left behind them, taking Hydro away.”

Just when they opened their mouths to say something, a groaning sound came from the corner of the hut.

Soyeon’s fingers started moving along the boards of the floor, then the heavy breath of Yuqi stopped for a few seconds. It seemed that the “midnight” Miyeon had talked about would come much earlier than expected. Finally, their bodies began processing the accumulated energy with the help of summer heat.

Soyeon was the one who opened her eyes first. Their gaze was still filled with purple haze before she focused it at the ceiling of the hut.

"Minnie unnie…?" Soyeon called out hoarsely, her voice seemingly like gravel on the ground.

Minnie appeared by her side instantly, her inner fever burning with gratitude at being there when her friend needed her. "I'm here, Soyeon-ah. You're safe now. All of us are."

Yuqi sat up with a start, her hand going to where she knew her claymore normally was. "The cliff… the water…. It was like I was bleeding out of my body."

"It's alright, Yuqi-ah," Soojin made wag to aid the geo wielder, but she kept one eye on Miyeon nonetheless. "Somebody came to our aid. Well… some somebody that Shuhua knows."

Soyeon and Yuqi both turned their gaze toward the doorway, where they saw the new person standing there. Soyeon's protective instincts as a leader took over, and even injured, her hands crackled with electricity.

"Who is she?" Soyeon demanded.

"She's Miyeon," Shuhua replied proudly, with traces of sorrow in her voice. "She's from my clan. She rescued the two of you."

Soyeon glanced between Shuhua and the otherworldly woman standing at the doorway. She saw the massive claymore lying next to the wall belonged to her own comrade, while she noticed the bow slung across Miyeon's back. Soyeon was a strategic genius, after all, and she could sense the aura of the newcomer, realizing right away that the power dynamic within their party had changed drastically.

Miyeon did not make any attempt to protect herself. Instead, she simply watched them with her crystalline gaze.

"You're awake," Miyeon observed calmly. "That's good. The 'muted' area where I found you wasn't an accident but rather a trap, and since you managed to escape it, the people who set it up will soon visit you to learn why their 'sponge' failed."

It was freezing cold in the hut, even though the weather was summer. Minnie could feel the silver around her wrist thrumming once, twice, steadily, rhythmically.

"The Heavenly Gods?" Minnie asked.

Miyeon nodded, her face serious. "They will not appreciate it when the dead walk again. They will definitely hate it when there is a pyro wielder that does not feel any panic in the Hydro patch."

Minnie glanced down at her hands, then back at her comrades. Training was the least of their concerns; now, they were running against time.

"We must leave immediately," Soyeon commanded in an imperious tone, forcing herself to stand, with Minnie as support. "If they come for us, we do not wait until morning."

As they started packing their bags under the faint glow of the electric torches, Minnie found herself standing alongside Miyeon by the door of the hut.

"Why are you helping us?" Minnie whispered. "You could've stayed hidden. You were safe until we came along."

Miyeon gazed off into the starlit mountain trail, the reflection in her eyes looking like tiny fires that were forever frozen.

"I was waiting for a good reason to stop hiding," Miyeon answered. She glanced back at Minnie, a faint smile forming on her lips. "And a girl who calls herself a pyro wielder but smells like the ocean… that is definitely worth fighting for."

A chill ran down Minnie's spine that had nothing to do with the frigid air. She focused her attention on the path in front of her, where they had been led by the woods to a revelation that would shake Neverland to its core.

The first part of their adventure had concluded in an old, abandoned hut. But now, with them six, they stepped into a world where the darkness lurked in more places than ever before, but for the first time in Minnie's life, hope was within reach.

They began moving faster, yet Soyeon stopped, her fingers touching the wooden frame of the door as she cast a backward glance at the intruder. Weakness aside, her gaze was cold flint. Being the leader, she could not afford to miss anything, especially anything that would put her most unstable companion in jeopardy.

“Stop,” Soyeon interrupted the sounds of shifting luggage. She stared at Miyeon with full force. “You said Minnie’s chakra is a result of a void. You talked about her fire looking for water as if you can read her thoughts.”

Soyeon moved forward, standing tall and firm. “We’ve spent months trying to find the cause of Minnie’s deteriorating body. What makes you think someone from the north, who is missing their cryo wielder, knows the details of her inner fever in just five minutes of talking to her?”

The air thickened inside the hut. Shuhua glanced from her senior to her leader, her breath held, as Soojin’s hand hovered above a cluster of sleeping vines.

Miyeon didn't look away. She looked at Soyeon without fear.

“I didn't need those five minutes,” Miyeon said quietly. “You feel someone's presence before they even arrive, especially when they are a pyro wielder carrying a silver seal vibrating on the resonance frequency of an ancient tide. You don’t have to be a genius to understand she’s in pain. Her fire is not fire, it’s the tension generated when an element tries to occupy a void.”

She looked at Minnie and then Soyeon again. “You’ve been treating her like she’s sick. I’m treating her like she’s a mirror of the world’s current state. I know what she’s going through because it took me years of watching this land become arid. And she's the first one I've ever met whose thirst is as intense as the earth’s.”

For a long while Soyeon examined Miyeon's face for deception and discovered none except for a shocking sincerity. Gradually the electro wielder let her guard down but not entirely.

"Thirsty," Soyeon muttered to herself as she caught sight of the silver bracelet on Minnie's wrist. "Very well. But if those 'observations' of yours get us into trouble, missing heir or not, then I will make sure that you'll suffer."

Miyeon nodded politely. "Fair enough."

Finally, the group emerged from the confines of the hut into the chill mountain air lit up by the moon. It was still oppressively hot, but this time, there was the refreshing breeze following Miyeon.

Minnie found herself moving towards the rear of the group, next to the one whose presence had made all the difference. It was a star-filled night, and their reflections twinkled within the darkness of the ravine.

"Why did you really stay, Miyeon?" Minnie whispered to make sure no one else would hear. "You weren’t here just to observe the mountains. You were waiting for someone."

Miyeon paused for an instant, her footsteps silent against the parched earth. She stared at Minnie, the moonlight shining upon the unexplored depths of her gaze.

"The legend states that whenever the planet reaches its peak heat, the sea shall send out a spark to seek its shores," Miyeon murmured softly. She stretched out her hand, her cold fingertips brushing against the metallic glow around Minnie's wrist. 

"But I was never looking for ‘someone,’ Minnie. I was waiting for you."

Minnie felt her heart skip a beat. The "raging ocean" within her was not enraged anymore; rather, she felt it resonate strongly inside her chest. She gazed at the path ahead, where her companions awaited her, before glancing once more at the enigmatic woman holding the key to an ancient element.

The search for an answer to Minnie’s dilemma has come to a close. Her quest to restore the world’s equilibrium has only just begun.

Chapter Text

Minnie feels herself sweating from the heat again, the weather getting hot all of a sudden. As she was walking behind her friends, no one had noticed her change in temperature yet. 

Just as she was about to call for Shuhua, her personal air cooler friend, she feels a freezing cold hand touching her forehead, immediately her body relaxing as the heat within her starts to normalize. 

She looked to her side, she had completely forgotten about the new addition to their group. Miyeon had her hand frozen as ice, acting as a makeshift ice to cool down her overheating system. 

“It suddenly got warmer,” Miyeon says as she makes something out of ice in her left hand, offering it to Minnie to hold. “This should keep you cold.” 

Minnie looks down at what she's currently holding, a flower that looked too alike with the flowers Soojin loved taking care of back in their hometown. Dahlias, was it?

Somehow, even with the single flower in her hand, its coolness spread throughout her whole body. It didn't melt nor falter, its temperature consistent with the purpose it's given: cool down the raging fire inside Minnie. 

“How’d you do this, Miyeon?” Minnie stared at the frozen bloom, her thumb lightly tracing the delicate, frosted petals. “Shuhua mentioned your family has the purest cryo bloodline, but when I hold this, it doesn't just feel cold. It feels heavy, like a deep pool.” 

Miyeon faces Minnie with a smile, her hand coming up to show the process to the pyro wielder. “It’s complicated to explain, so here,” another flower was made, a rose this time. “It’s something my father taught me when I was a kid, it was his little secret he shared with me.” 

Then Minnie picked up the second frozen flower, which was an ice rose. It was very heavy and cold when she touched it. It was unlike the lighter frost given by Shuhua. Before she could ask Miyeon about it, Soyeon’s stern voice rang in the front.

“Move along, everyone,” Soyeon instructed. “The atmosphere is becoming thin. We need to take shelter before the sun becomes too hot for us. It will be easy for us to be seen by the heavenly gods at noon.”

The group continued on climbing the rugged mountains. The path was rocky and steep. As they were climbing, an eerie atmosphere enveloped all of them. All the natural elements around them, including the breeze blowing past and the cracking of twigs, suddenly lost their life-like quality, including their powers of magic.

"Do you feel it?" Yuqi paused and looked around. "This ground feels like it is...dead here."

"A muted area," Soyeon cautioned. The girl surveyed their surroundings. The vibrant colors of the mountains disappeared into the dull gray of dead terrains. "Avoid those places. If we step into a dead zone, the gods might not track us, but our magic will be completely blocked.  We will be helpless if an enemy spots us."

Following the leader’s advice, they avoided the gray terrains as they made their way to a huge rock split where Shuhua pointed towards. "There! This cave seems to be deep enough for us to hide from the sky."

They rushed to take shelter in the cave where it was cool despite being in the blazing sun. "Ah!" Minnie let out a breath of exhaustion as she searched for a place to sit.

Squelch.

Her boot stepped on something wet. 

Instantly, an enormous shock surged all throughout Minnie's body. The burning sensation that filled Minnie instantly dissipated,the feeling was not like being numbed to coldness by ice but rather an absence of anything at all. The raging flames that took up residence within her heart extinguished themselves into a serene, gentle spark.

Minnie's hand felt the frozen flowers Miyeon gifted to her melt rapidly in her hands, as if the power of ice that froze them had been washed out from them. In the soft sound of a clink, the heavy metal bracelet she had to wear to stop her fire from exploding had opened on its own. It fell into the dark water. It was completely useless now. 

"Minnie unnie? Are you alright?" Shuhua asked upon noticing her frozen-in-its-place friend.

"I...I stepped on some water..." Minnie replied softly, staring down at her feet that were submerged in an elegant puddle of liquid.

Miyeon walked over and kneeled, dipping her fingers in the puddle. She looked surprised. "This is not ordinary water, Minnie. This water is filled with pure hydro energy."

Soyeon frowned. "Hydro? Up here on a dry mountain? How do you know that?" 

Miyeon turned back to face the others, hiding her face behind an unreadable expression as she withdrew her hand. "Because I’ve seen plenty like this already over the years. You get used to tracking water sources when you spend your life working with ice. And right now, it helps Minnie."

Everyone stared at the scene in amazement. Minnie let out a breath, and a gentle mist formed instead of the usual puff of hot air. It seemed like, for the first time in a while, Minnie was feeling comfortable and happy. The deadly fire vein inside her body was no longer bothering her.

"It keeps my fire from hurting me," said Minnie, beaming with delight. "It feels like balance now."

Yuqi’s eyes lit up with realization. "But wait! So if the hydro protects her fire from causing any harm but doesn’t stop it, what would happen if we combined our magic with hers? We were never able to train together before because of her fire."

This seemed like a great idea to all of them. They each took their turn trying to use a magical reaction with the water and their own powers.

Soyeon decided to be the first one to do so. She threw out an electric spark on the edge of the puddle. The water started glowing with violet light, making a powerful electro reaction that did not harm Minnie in any way but gave her fire energy pulses. Then, Yuqi stepped on the ground under the water with her power, making crystals that protected Minnie from the heat. Finally, Shuhua used both her anemo and cryo abilities to blow a gust of cold anemo wind at the misty hydro puddle, keeping the air fresh and cool in the cave.

At last, Soojin stood on the edge of the puddle. She used her Dendro energy to make some plants grow near the water with amazing speed. When they touched hydro energy, they produced a nice blooming reaction, giving off a fresh and calming aura that made all of Minnie's uncontrolled sparks stop at once.

Soyeon turned her gaze to the shining puddle and to Minnie, who seemed even more powerful surrounded by her friends' magical energy. "The heavenly gods cannot find us here in this cave, and the dead zones outside will help us stay hidden. So we are hiding here for today," said the leader, putting her hands across each other. "As long as you stand there in the hydro puddle, you'll be able to use your magic like never before. Now we are training you."

Soeyon did not waste her time. "Alright, now let's get started. Minnie, stay in the puddle. Now we will witness how your body and fire can respond to our personal training methods. Let's see which technique works better for you to master control over your abilities."

First to approach was Soojin, who held her sword in front of her. "The most important things when I train with my element are patience, breathing, and developing your energy," Soojin spoke calmly. Soojin sat cross-legged on the floor beside the puddle, and placed her sword in front of her. "Close your eyes, Minnie. Do not force the fire out, just feel the life inside you and let your energy grow like a plant." Minnie drew her breaths carefully and tried to repeat Soojin's calmness. Standing in the puddle, she saw the fire burning in her chest gradually become more controlled and create a perfectly balanced aura.

After her was Soyeon who opened her hefty catalyst book. "When I'm training my electro, everything is completely different," Soyeon explained. "It's all about speed, agility and rhythmic timing," she continued. Soyeon started tapping a very fast and complex rhythm on the cover of her book. "Do what I do, Minnie. Send out your fire and pull it back with each tap of mine." Minnie found herself struggling to comply, but sending her flame out quickly and taking it back right away made her work more efficiently than ever before. Hydro under her feet made sure her body would not overheat, which made her flame quicker and fiercer.

Yuqi followed after Soyeon. She slammed the hilt of her giant claymore down on the ground. "Geo training requires power, perseverance and a strong posture!" Yuqi bellowed and sank into a squat position. "Go into that squat, Minnie," she instructed. "Stay there immobile and exert your fire while you are at it." Minnie sunk into a squatting position and rooted her legs firmly in hydro. She directed the powerful flame she sent out towards the back of the cavern and struggled to keep still despite immense pressure she felt in her muscles.

Shuhua followed suit, pulling out her beautifully crafted sword. “The essence of my training with anemo lies in movement, fast pace, and utmost precision,” Shuhua said. Almost immediately, she launched a number of pebbles in midair, which she kept in midair through powerful blasts of wind. “Do not blow them away. Use the least amount of fire to make sure that you hit each individual target.” With that, Minnie tried to focus on shooting the spinning pebbles with needle-like bursts of fire.

Miyeon then finally stepped forward. "When I work out using cryo, it is all about total emotional stillness, concentration, and having my mind's eye crystal clear," Miyeon softly spoke. She conjured up a floating sphere of ice in front of them. "What I would like you to do is to look straight at the core of this ice and see its cool reflection, and then shoot out a narrow column of fire through it, so that you go precisely through the center without melting the edges of the ice." Minnie gazed at the icy sphere, as she was guided by Miyeon's calm concentration. Minnie released a stream of flame right through the center of the sphere.

Since their elemental skills were perfected through training, Soyeon slammed shut the catalyst book she had been using. "Your control is definitely improving. However, you will need some way of harnessing that during an actual battle. Maybe try our weapons."

However, as one after another tried the weapons that the girls possessed, none of it seemed to fit Minnie's needs.

The sword from Shuhua seemed too delicate in her hand as she swung it, but it was hard to get the balance right between the sword swing and the manipulation of fire. Soojin then gave Minnie her sword, but it was still too difficult for Minnie to move the sword around.

Laughingly, Yuqi tossed her claymore into the mud pool, "Try a weapon that really requires some power." Minnie grabbed the hilt, and yet it was far too cumbersome for someone who moved like she did with fire in her attacks. It was nearly too much weight for Minnie to pick up out of the hydro puddle.

Finally, Soyeon gave Minnie the catalyst book to wield again, but the magic felt too restricted and rigid for her.

Minnie let out a little sigh, disappointed with herself. Miyeon came forward, however, giving Minnie a friendly smile. She had her stunning bow with her.

"Hold this one, Minnie," said Miyeon softly, using the most delicate voice.

Minnie held the bow in her hand and felt how different it was. Though lighter compared to the claymore, it gave her an incredible amount of control over it that she didn’t have with the sword or the book.

Miyeon came from behind and positioned Minnie correctly. Her hands were placed over Minnie’s hands as she raised the bow and pulled the string. “Let the fire come naturally,” Miyeon whispered to Minnie’s ear, her hands cooling Minnie down. “Breathe deeply and feel the hydro on your feet calm you. Your fire should be concentrated at the arrowhead.”

Soyeon smiled in agreement, pointing to the rest of her teammates. “Great. Miyeon, you stay here and help Minnie work on her bow handling. We need to keep practicing.”

And then, the other four went to the wide and dry center of the cave. Pretty soon, deep inside the cave, one could hear the sounds of their individual training: the loud crackling of Soyeon’s electro sparks, the deep hits of Yuqi’s claymore into stone blocks, the swift slices of Shuhua’s anemo winds, and the sound of Soojin’s growing dendro vines.

Meanwhile, back at the puddle, where everything seemed to be glowing from water, Minnie had been left alone with Miyeon, which made her feel somewhat anxious.

“First, we need to correct your stance,” Miyeon whispered, moving closer.

Minnie drew the bow, but since she was watching Miyeon from the corner of her eye, her shoulders tensed too much. Miyeon noticed it and smiled quietly. Her cold fingers reached out and pressed lightly against Minnie’s collarbone and the elbow.

Minnie was frozen in shock. Miyeon’s hands were pleasantly cold, a wonderful contrast to her own natural warmth, but the sudden physical contact made Minnie’s heart beat faster.  As Miyeon leaned close to align herself better, one of her soft strands of hair touched Minnie's cheek. It smelled like sweet rain and flower petals.

She is…so beautiful, Minnie mused to herself, her cheeks heating up more than her pyro magic.

"Minnie? Are you all right? Your face is a bit red," Miyeon said as she tilted her head. Miyeon put her hand on Minnie's cheeks to feel her body temperature. "I guess the hydro puddle isn't cooling you down enough?"

"N-no! The puddle is perfect! I am perfectly fine!" Minnie exclaimed, her voice high pitched. Minnie pulled her cheek back and moved her gaze away from Miyeon's face. "I was just focusing on our task."

Miyeon's lips curled into a small smile. "All right then. Let's try pulling the string again.

Minnie breathed deeply, trying to relax her beating heart. She drew the string of the bow and allowed her flames to concentrate in the tip. However, due to her nervousness, her arrow produced chaotic sparkles that did not form any pattern.

"Well, here we go again," Miyeon whispered softly. Instead of moving away, Miyeon approached Minnie, standing right behind her and almost touching her with her body. She held Minnie's arms and placed her hands on top of Minnie's in order to help her hold the bow firmly.

Everything was too intimate. The scent of Miyeon filled Minnie's nostrils, while she could feel the slight movements of her chest.

"Do not let the fire consume you," Miyeon whispered into Minnie's ear, sending shivers along Minnie's spine. "Let my cold guide you. Feel how steady it is."

Minnie gulped hard and nodded. She forced herself to focus on the feeling of Miyeon’s cool hands over her own. Slowly, the soothing cryo energy from Miyeon mixed with the healing hydro energy under her boots. Soon, all the chaotic sparks were transformed into a wonderful, solid spear of bright orange light.

“See? Perfect,” Miyeon murmured. Her face was right near Minnie’s jaw as she looked at the target. “Let it go.”

The string slipped off, making the noise like when someone snapped their fingers. Thwack! The fire arrow landed at the center of the rock target with a perfect explosion.

“I did it!” Minnie whispered, letting herself grin for the first time all day. She turned around, happy with what she did—only forgetting that Miyeon was standing only inches behind her.

As she turned, her nose almost touched Miyeon’s cheek. They stood so close to each other that Minnie saw the sparkles in Miyeon’s eyes. Their gazes held together and they froze for a moment, unable to break eye contact.

A tiny gasp came out of Miyeon as her cheeks turned a delicate shade of pink. Seeing Minnie’s radiant smile and dark eyes was just too much to bear. A comfortable silence fell between them that had nothing to do with the chaos surrounding them.

After a heartbeat, Miyeon backed away gently, and coughed discreetly, using her hand to clear her throat. "Yes, you sure did. That was… wonderful control, Minnie."

Minnie scratched the back of her neck, and her ears grew hot. "Thanks to your training. You're such an excellent teacher, Miyeon."

Miyeon turned around to face her again, and she smiled softly, the smile a little warmer than her first one. "And you're a fast learner. Let's take some more practice shots before the others finish."

For the rest of the afternoon, they kept training side by side. The nervousness slowly turned into a comfortable, sweet rhythm. Every time their hands brushed or their eyes met, a quiet warmth passed between them—a slow, steady bond growing stronger with every arrow fired.

Chapter Text

Finally, as dusk settled in, their training ceased when the shadow of darkness grew over the cave floor. Minnie fired off another fire arrow before hitting her mark dead-on, and then dropped her arms as she exhaled the deep exhaustion she felt.

"That's enough for today," said Soyeon, putting away her catalyst book and wiping the sweat off her forehead. The rest of the girls also paused from their own training, breathing heavily as they tried to catch their breath.

Minnie glanced at the floor, noting how the hydro puddle was already smaller than before after all the energy it took to maintain her volatile inner self. Sighing heavily, she left the puddle and walked on the dry and rocky surface of the cave floor. Almost immediately, she could feel the burning warmth creeping up again, the raging flames resuming within her once more.

Before the sparks managed to escape, Minnie remembered not to leave her thick metal bracelet lying on the edge of the pool, picking it up and snapping it into place around her wrist. The thick cuffs, meant to prevent the flames inside her from igniting, clinked shut, effectively holding them in place once more. It was constricting, being forced to wear something that restricted her like this after feeling completely free for so long.

Walking over, Miyeon wore a gentle expression, watching Minnie put her bracelet back on. "You did an incredible job today," she remarked softly, giving Minnie one of those tiny smiles that left her heart fluttering just a bit, still carrying the lingering heat from before.

"You too," Minnie replied softly, handing the bow back over to Miyeon. Their fingers brushed briefly, leaving a cool tingling sensation running down Minnie's arm before she turned to follow her teammates.

They had a quiet dinner under the dim light in the cave, resting well into the night, taking turns on the lookout. The night passed without any signs of the heavenly gods, thanks to the muted areas around them working flawlessly.

The next morning, the air inside the cave was crisp and cool. The blazing sun was rising outside, but the group decided it was too risky to move during the day with the skies so clear.

Gathering at the back of the cave, the girls turned their attention to Minnie. They have decided to use the opportunity to read into the next entry of the ancient book Minnie had carried with her. Only members of Minnie's family were allowed to use the ancient book because it belonged solely to Minnie's clan. The diary had been sealed with an unusual pyro seal that can only be unlocked using pyro power.

But there was a problem. If Minnie was to use her power in any way, her core would become extremely hot. To open the journal, she needed to use her magic normally—which meant she needed to be touching hydro energy.

With utmost caution, Minnie returned to the glowing puddle of energy, seating herself by its side. She plunged her bare hands into the cold water, which calmed her core instantly. Using her hand drenched in liquid energy, Minnie released the metal bracelet with a loud sound of clinking.

Finally able to control her powers freely, she brought her journal onto her lap. With one of her hands touching the puddle, she could finally use her powers normally and use the second hand to touch the front cover of the book. Using a small amount of her power to channel an extremely controlled spark of light, she made the orange runes shine on the front cover and unlocked the pages of the book. 

Minnie started reading out KTY’s words as the deafening silence within the cave concentrated solely upon her. Her voice reverberated gently within the cavern as she spoke out:

Entry 2 – Pyro and Hydro as One

Some might say Hydro is a blessing, it's such a wonderful element that is capable of making bonds with other elements easily. While some might say Hydro is a curse, once you know more about its abilities, it scares the hell out of you.

I, as a pyro wielder, believe that all elements are blessings to this cruel world, and no one should think otherwise. The Heavenly Gods entrusted these powers with us humans, and it is our duty to use it with good intentions. One should not be tempted by any form of evil but I too, was once a victim of such fate.

Most of you don't know what's the identity of the first hydro wielder, only those who were born before the cataclysm knew, but fear not, I am here to introduce you to her.

HMY was the first hydro wielder and the one who helped me discovered the correlation of our elements. She was very knowledgeable in her element, was too kind for her own kind, and was too curious about our world. Once she was able to discover blood bending, that was when things started to go downhill, yet no one other than us first elemental wielders knew.

When she got ill, all of the hydro wielders were frightened, so was I. HMY and I bonded like soulmates, thus, a part of the reason why pyro and hydro is very important to each other and why I am still looking for the last hydro wielder in this world.

I had promised HMY that I will protect her element with all of my powers yet I failed to do so, that's why since the cataclysm’s end, I never stopped looking for answers. I want to make it up to her, I want to fulfill my promise to her even if it's the last thing I would have to do in this cruel life of mine in this damned world.

A reason why I’ve been writing this book is not only to keep track of my findings but to also keep track of my memories, as I am not sure if I’ll last long because I did something that made my life span shorter, meaning that this book may never end and everything I’ve left behind will be up to the ones who will come to read this.

I lost track of the things I’m writing in this entry. Kindly blame my buried feelings for making me remember such memories I’ve always wanted to bury deep down in this world. Anyways, to continue, as I have mentioned before, pyro and hydro can contain each other’s weaknesses. With their vaporize reactions, their weaknesses will become their strength, that's why if you're one of the few people who is unable to control their powers freely, kindly take note of this information and use it as you please.

That's all I can offer for this entry. I wrote a lot, didn't I? Well, that's what happens if you're too engrossed in something and you tend to forget the main reason for your journey.

As I always say, who knows, you may find better answers than mine. Best of luck to my pyro wielders, we will find hydro for us. For our future.

– signed KTY, first pyro wielder of this cruel world of ours.

Slowly, Minnie set the book down. Her great-ancestor's words seemed to weigh heavily over the group.

"Vaporize reactions. Weaknesses becoming strengths," Minnie recited blankly, her hand still soaked in the water as she absorbed everything the entry revealed. It all seemed so surreal. "Hydro reactions..." It was just luck that they had stumbled upon the puddle yesterday, but Minnie's first leader in her own clan knew from the start that hydro would be able to stabilize the unstable pyro that was her bloodline.

"HMY and KTY...," Yuqi murmured, finally breaking the silence as she rested her chin on her knees. "The first wielders? And it's HMY who discovers... blood-bending? Controlling the water within the living? No wonder the author mentioned how terrifying it sounded."

"It is the ending that is most important though," Shuhua said, looking at Minnie. "KTY had been searching her entire life for the last hydro wielder to make a promise. This was written specifically for pyro wielders like you, unnie, who can't control their powers without a source."

Soojin slowly nodded as she met Minnie's gaze. "It means that what you experienced yesterday isn't some kind of fluke, Minnie. Hydro is needed for your fire to be complete. In the book, it literally says you will find a hydro for your future."

"KTY was right," said Miyeon as she drew all the attention to herself with her quiet statement. She then met the gaze of the ancient book that was in Minnie's hands. "All that was written there about the relationship between the two elements... everything is true."

Shuhua raised an eyebrow at Miyeon as her eyes narrowed. "How are you so sure of that, Miyeon unnie? It has been generations since there was a hydro wielder among us."

"She has a record book belonging to my family due to an ancient book my family also owns," explained Miyeon, maintaining her composure but did not provide further information into what it was. "It is a personal family history record. It has never been known by any other cryo wielders out there." She casted a quick glance at Shuhua to indicate that there was no mistrust, it was simply something personal. "This is because it was authored by BJH who was the first cryo wielder. She was a close friend to both KTY and HMY."

Minnie stared back up from her family’s book and locked eyes with Miyeon immediately. The knowledge that Miyeon's family too held part of her family history in their books which belonged to a friend of someone her ancestor admired made Minnie feel a bizarre chill run down her spine.

The quiet between them became suffocating with all the unspoken facts between the two clans brought upon them by their old journals.

The oppressive silence lasted a bit longer until Soyeon leaned in and her piercing eyes scrutinized the worn pages of Minnie's diary like she was trying to uncover some sort of hidden blueprint.

"Assuming that BJH's records match those of KTY," Soyeon pondered, her index finger drumming against her chin, "then there is more to this than sentimental reminiscence. This is a mechanical guide for our salvation. Minnie, the vaporize reaction that KTY talks about means that your fire does not get extinguished by the hydro but gets amplified and channeled."

Minnie slowly withdrew her hand from the cold puddle, and the drops falling from it glittered with the faint glow of hydro energy. Even though Minnie didn't have her bracelet on, she did not feel the usual burning pain since her body remained heated by the presence of the hydro energy surrounding her. "However, KTY also described how the cataclysm took place after HMY realized blood bending could be used," she said, gazing upwards into the rugged rock ceiling. "If the first wielders couldn't protect this world from whatever happened back then... how are we supposed to stand a chance against the heavenly gods now?”

"That's because they didn't have what we have," Yuqi said with a defiant smile as she leaned back and crossed her arms, looking determined. "They had to work in the dark to discover their abilities. We have their journals, we have each other, and most importantly, we have a head start in understanding how this should be done."

Shuhua moved closer towards Miyeon, squinting her eyes. "Unnie, the journal written by BJH... did it say anything about the destination of the last hydro wielder? Or maybe about a way to get a constant hydro supply? You can't exactly carry a mountain puddle everywhere when you need some for Minnie."

Miyeon froze ever so slightly, tightening her grip on her skirt. Her expression was carefully controlled, she looked ahead at the wall of the cave instead of the girl beside her. "The records are old, and parts of them were damaged," she said smoothly, her voice a perfect mask of calm composure. "BJH only documented the bonds they shared and the theory behind the elemental reactions. She didn't write down a map."

Minnie observed Miyeon intently, feeling the hint of tension in her shoulders. There was a heavy tone in Miyeon's words and a slight pause in them, which left Minnie's chest feeling unusually tight out of a curious need. Yet just as she had been about to ask what was wrong, a sharp tremor ran through the stone floor under their feet.

The small puddle was wracked by violent waves as light from the surface broke into shards, reflecting against the walls of the cave.

Yuqi was already on her feet and her hands were trembling slightly as a force field of geo power sprung to protect them all. Soojin too was standing straight, her eyes staring intensely at the entrance of the cave.

"Has the muted zone malfunctioned?" Yuqi asked softly, her hand automatically reaching for the grip of her weapon.

"No," Soyeon spat viciously, her eyes flitting nervously towards the glaring rays of the sun filtering in from the cave entrance. "The air is getting thicker, high noon is fast approaching. And the heavenly gods are nearing our position. They might still not know our exact location, but they're scouring the mountain."

Minnie glanced down at her empty wrist before turning her attention to the hefty metal bracelet lying atop the parched stone. Should they be caught and have to escape or fight their way out, she was doomed. Her ability to conjure fire was compromised by the presence of the puddle but placing the bracelet back on meant all her powers would be locked away.

Her gaze lifted and met that of Miyeon’s through the murky darkness of the cave. The time for peace had ended.

With no hesitation, Miyeon lunged toward the thick metal bracelet, snatching it away from where Minnie had intended to place it back onto her wrist.

"Don’t put it back on," Miyeon hissed, her tone insistent. "If they catch us, you’re going to have to defend yourself."

"But Miyeon, if we leave the puddle, my core—"

"We’ll figure it out," interrupted Miyeon, tightening her grip on the restraints and shoving them into her own bag, keeping them safely out of Minnie’s reach. She looked around, her face fiercer than Minnie had ever seen. “For now, stick near the water. Don’t lose contact until you know what we’re dealing with.”

Outside, there was a deep and heavy droning noise that echoed around the mountain range, as if some giant bronze bell were being hit miles away. There was something oppressive about the very air of the cave, suffocating and holy with the pressure of the gods of heaven. It wasn’t an attack, not yet, just a thorough sweep by the gods of all the peaks.

Soyeon knelt on one knee, her sharp eyes flashing with a dangerous violet hue as crackling arcs of Electro energy flickered faintly across her fingertips. Placing a palm on her catalyst book, she focused her electrical energy in trying to find the magnetic disturbance above them. "They are directly above us," she murmured. "They are using a sensory array. Letting off a great surge of energy right now might cause the muted zone to pop up like a bubble."

Yuqi passed her by, pressing her palms to the surface of the cavern. The faint glow of Geo ley lines shimmered around her hands, helping her manipulate the structure of the rock. "I'll try my best to contain the tremors," Yuqi murmured. "But Soyeon is right. The air is getting heavy."

"Then we'll fight them off quietly if they dare to come in here," Soojin spoke calmly as her Dendro power resonated softly as she pulled out her daggers silently. The girl walked towards the dark recesses by the doorway as she began to weave some subtle vines around the entry point to dampen any sound.

Following close behind was Shuhua who was holding her sword and was ready for action as she drew in some swirling currents of Anemo to contain their scent. On top of that, she used a bit of Cryo power to dampen the floor.

Finally, Minnie stayed crouched down beside the diminishing water puddle as she held on to her weapon with one hand and submerged her other hand in it.

It was a makeshift bow, but it was perfectly constructed. Just yesterday, Soojin had collected brittle fallen branches from the barren trees that littered the area around their hideout, using her Dendro powers to resurrect the dying branches. Through her efforts, the dying branches came back to life and formed a durable yet pliable structure made for mounting strings onto it. It was not much of a weapon, but a token passed from a friend to another to make sure Minnie wasn’t completely defenseless.

As she held the wooden bow made of living wood, the stark contrast was enough to make her head spin—the frozen chill of the puddle water calming her spirit while her burning Pyro core pulsed just under her skin, yearning for release through the weapon.

As Minnie turned, she saw Miyeon standing right next to her. Miyeon’s bow was drawn, a Cryo arrow already formed on the string, emitting a faint, frosty mist. Even in such an uncertain, possibly dangerous situation, Miyeon looked ethereal, her attention focused entirely on the cave’s entrance.

Pyro and Hydro can contain each other's weaknesses, the words of KTY echoed inside Minnie's head. With their vaporize reactions, their weaknesses will become their strengths.

Minnie gazed at her clan's old journal which lay calmly close by her bag, then at the water in her hands, and finally at Miyeon. The history in those journals wasn't just ancient lore—it was a warning, a promise, and a guide. And as the shadow of a divine scout lengthened across the cave entrance, Minnie knew they were about to find out just how powerful that history truly was.

Chapter Text

The stillness inside the cavern was such that even the sound of the slowly depleting hydro puddle began to tick like a time bomb, warning them of the imminent detection of their presence.

On the other side, the figure of the divine scout changed its position, and soon after, the bright, holy light emitted by his staff slowly started leaking through the narrow crevices that Soojin had carefully constructed out of the Dendro vines. Dark shadows were casted along the walls and seemed to get closer and closer to where Minnie and Miyeon were standing stiff.

Tightening her grasp on the bow, Minnie felt the moisture present on her fingertips start to dry under the pressure exerted by the ambient temperature emanating from the godly figure outside. The Pyro essence in her body was beginning to pulse dangerously near the end of her arrow from the amount of fear that she was experiencing at that very moment.

Not yet, she told herself, biting her lower lip. If I flare up now, I blow our cover.

However, all too suddenly, Miyeon's fingers gripped onto hers.

This time it was not a light touch, for Miyeon firmly held Minnie’s hand in her own, and even though her palm was unusually cold, compared to Minnie’s heated body, the contact brought a calming wave that immediately extinguished whatever had been brewing inside. Minnie looked over, her breath catching in her throat. Miyeon wasn't looking at her, her eyes were locked entirely on the entrance, her jaw set in a hard, determined line. But the tight, unwavering grip on Minnie's hand spoke volumes.

At the entrance, the divine scout took a step forward. The tip of his sensory staff poked directly through the mossy barrier.

Soyeon’s eyes suddenly glowed an alarming purple, and her catalyst book flicked open with frightening speed, its pages filled with thick, concentrated Electro sparks. Ready to attack the first moment the scout would cross into the temple, she stood next to Yuqi, whose palms were glowing amber, ready to crush the scout under the falling ceiling.

A moment seemed like forever as everything was hanging by a thread.

But then the scout stopped. The point at which his staff entered the cave was now a dim, lifeless gray color. The special qualities of the dead zone surrounding him had entirely soaked into the entrance of the cave, making it impossible for his divine senses to function.

"Arrrgh," grunted the scout in annoyance as he withdrew his staff from the vines. His footsteps reverberated heavily, slowly beginning to fade as they moved away from the cave, deeper into the mountain.

The suffocating pressure in the air instantly lifted.

"He's gone," Shuhua breathed out, drawing a deep sigh as she lowered her blade. The winds of Anemo ceased swirling, becoming mere breezes, and blowing away the lingering frost on the ground.

Soojin sighed, her daggers vanishing back into her sash as she let the Dendro barrier fade into dust. "The dead zone helped us. His array couldn't detect any presence of magic within that zone."

Soyeon rose to her feet, closing her catalyst book with a snap, even though some strain was still visible on her shoulders. "We were lucky this time around. However, high noon is not yet finished. We stay hidden until the sun is gone from sight behind the ridge."

When the tension finally started easing off their faces, Minnie lowered her gaze to her hand. Miyeon was still clutching it tightly, her grip unwavering. Minnie squeezed her hand back, breaking Miyeon from her reverie.

Miyeon suddenly withdrew her hand, her eyes growing wider as she flushed red with an unmistakable shade of embarrassment. She turned her back on Minnie, preoccupied with undoing the frost arrow that was notched into her bowstring. "I... I needed to make sure your core didn't react to the divine pressure," Miyeon muttered quietly, her voice faint compared to the soft rustling inside the cave. "Cryo is effective in… stabilizing."

Minnie gazed at her exposed palm, tingling under the touch of Miyeon's ice powers that were so intensely profound. The sensation was not of a frosty layer on top of her skin, it was something more powerful and grounding, much like how her hydro puddle felt underneath her.

She looked back at her clan's open diary, at the last words KTY had written for her, etched on the tattered paper: Best of luck to my pyro users, we will find hydro for us. Our future.

With a deep breath, Minnie watched as Miyeon's form retreated from her sight, her heart beating at a much faster pace than before. "Yeah," whispered Minnie to herself, running her thumb across the area that Miyeon's fingers were just in a moment ago. "Thank you, Miyeon."

As the crowd began to dissipate back into the darkness of the cave, the surge of energy soon became exhaustion. Sitting down again against the rock wall that she just supported, Yuqi let out a loud sigh as she massaged her temples.

"This was too much for me. Using Geo abilities to nullify the quaking of a mountain while having a god walk on it is not something that I would do again."

“You did well,” Soyeon stated as she walked closer and placed a hand on Yuqi's shoulder. Gone were the vibrant shades of violet from Soyeon’s eyes. Instead, there was only the calculating glance she usually sported. She looked at Minnie, who remained seated beside the small puddle, with an intensity that made her feel nervous. "Minnie, put down the book for now. We must conserve the remaining Hydro power in that pool. If it dries up completely before nightfall, we're in trouble."

Minnie gave a small nod in return. Carefully keeping her right hand submerged in the cooling waters to keep her powers in balance, she reached with the left hand to softly shut the old book. The instant she closed the book, the orange runes ignited themselves, locking away the pages within its clutches with her clan’s Pyro seals.

As the book lay shut, it felt like the truth behind KTY’s words became even clearer to everyone in the cave.

Shuhua slid into a sitting position beside Soojin, her fingers absentmindedly outlining the frost she had left behind on the ground. "Hey, Miyeon unnie," Shuhua started, her tone filled with curiosity as she turned her gaze towards the other end of the cave. "You said BJH mentioned in the book that Pyro and Hydro balance each other out. Did the first Cryo wielder leave anything written about why they were such a package deal? I mean, did anything happen once a Pyro wielder found themselves a suitable Hydro counterpart?"

Miyeon froze mid-movement, carefully making sure that everything in her bag was put away safely—namely ensuring Minnie’s hefty metal bracelet was well hidden underneath all her other supplies—and kept her back turned toward the rest of the group.

"It... it only talked about how the elemental strengths and weaknesses compliment each other," Miyeon answered calmly, her voice smooth and even to mask her discomfort. "Pyro provides Hydro with the guidance and warmth it needs to not stay stagnant, while Hydro gives Pyro a place to settle down and not self-destruct in the process. It’s just an elemental reaction. Vaporize."

"A little more than a mere reaction, perhaps?" Shuhua coaxed gently as she elbowed Soojin playfully. "KTY calling HMY her soulmate seems a little too serious for my tastes."

"It was a different age back then, Shuhua," Soojin scolded gently, even though there was a teasing smile forming on her face. She glanced at Minnie with kind eyes. "Still, whatever it was that allowed them to survive through the end times, perhaps our quest now is not simply to run away from the gods after all. If there is any possibility that discovering a Hydro user can finally take Minnie off those shackles… maybe we have a real purpose."

Minnie said nothing. Withdrawing her hand from the water puddle, she rubbed her damp palm against the fabric of her pants. The absence of contact meant the heat started creeping up once again from her torso to her neck, burning inside her. This time, there was no explosive wrath, only the slow heat of an unbearable pressure that she knew exactly what caused her to feel that way.

She turned her gaze towards Miyeon.

Finally done with her bag, Miyeon sat a few feet away from her, looking elegantly aloof. Her eyes, focused on the cave floor, studiously avoided Minnie's gaze. However, Minnie found herself unable to stop thinking about the intense coldness which had seeped through her body from just one touch of Miyeon's hand. Unlike Shuhua's Cryo frost which numbed the stone with its bite. It felt deep. Internal. Liquid.

Minnie reached down, her fingers brushing the smooth, living wood of the bow Soojin had crafted for her out of dead sticks. The wood felt alive, humming faintly with Dendro energy.

We will find hydro for us, KTY had promised in her letter. For our future.

The heat of the afternoon was oppressive, making Minnie close her eyes as an odd sense of knowing washed over her. The solution to their age-old riddle didn't lie somewhere far off in the world. It was much closer than they all realized.

As time passed, the warmth in the cave only seemed to increase, becoming unbearable as the air became almost suffocating in its stale state. Without her metal bracelet to bind down her core energy, Minnie was falling apart.

The feeling of relief when entering the puddle had quickly evaporated as she now found herself perched atop the cold stone surface away from it. In her chest, the Pyro core was swelling up ferociously, unchecked. Small, random sparks were shooting from her body, piercing through her clothes. Her breathing felt as though she was breathing in smoke, while sweat beaded along her brow.

Minnie was bracing against the cave wall, teeth clenched as she attempted to subdue the flames through sheer strength of will alone. Without her cuffs, it was like fighting an entire ocean with just her hands. The burning sensation was steadily spreading up her throat, distorting her vision in the process.

Miyeon observed Minnie from across the circle as her heart constricted at the sound of Minnie's difficult breaths. She was able to clearly see the dangerous orange glow that was faintly emanating beneath Minnie’s skin. It showed that Minnie’s core was getting close to the limit.

Unable to just sit there anymore, she carefully got to her feet and picked up the wooden bow that Soojin made for her. Using it as an excuse to move closer to Minnie, she sat down beside her.

“Minnie,” said Miyeon as her tone betrayed deep concern.

In an instant, Miyeon put one hand on Minnie’s neck, which was burning up, while her other hand held Minnie’s wrist.

The impact was immediate. It was not the sting caused by the Cryo frost, rather, it was a wave of intense cold that coursed through Minnie's blood as if she was an active volcano erupting. The scorching heat that burned within her quickly encountered the calming, heavy force, resulting in an invisible, vaporizing process that calmed the raging flames down. Minnie released a breath of relief in the form of a gasp, her head dropping involuntarily until it rested comfortably on Miyeon's shoulder.

"Breathe," whispered Miyeon soothingly, clenching Minnie's wrist tightly in one hand while pretending to watch for any intruders at the cave entrance with the other. "I told you we'd figure it out. Just focus on the coolness."

Minnie shut her eyes, pressing her face gently against the nook of Miyeon's neck. There was not a trace left of that suffocating pain as now she felt only a confused, dizzy sort of heat, which had nothing to do with her damaged element whatsoever. With each second spent there, feeling the anchor that was Miyeon's touch on her skin, Minnie understood how impossible it would be for her to make it through one more day wearing that bracelet—but she also knew she never wanted to let go of this hand.

The sound of other girls' breaths disappeared into the background, giving way only to Minnie’s gradually calming respiration within the narrow space separating her and Miyeon.

With each passing second, the liquid coolness coming from Miyeon’s hands worked its magic in Minnie’s veins, smothering any new spark before it managed to make an escape through Minnie's skin. But with her thoughts clearing up under the effect of her exhaustion, something disturbingly clear dawned on Minnie.

The Cryo magic of Shuhua was always a sudden blast of cold, ice sharp, and biting. What Miyeon was doing at the moment was a completely different kind of magic. It did not make her numb, but rather made its way into her body and took the dangerously hot essence of her body out, adapting itself to the highly changeable nature of her energy just like that of a liquid shield. And it was exactly the same feeling as the hydro puddle, except infinitely deeper, alive, and all focused on Miyeon.

Minnie gave a small groan and slightly lifted her head from Miyeon’s shoulder in order to look at her face. At this distance, Minnie could clearly see the tightly tensed muscles of Miyeon’s jawline and the quick pulse beating under her chin.

“Miyeon…” Minnie whispered, her voice a soft rasp. “Your magic…”

Miyeon’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second, a flicker of panic darting through her dark irises. Before Minnie could finish her sentence, Miyeon tightened her grip a bit on her wrist, deliberately pushing more of that colder, sharper bite into her flesh to hide what was truly happening inside of her.

"It’s just standard Cryo application," Miyeon cut in softly. Her voice held a tone of hurried desperation to it. "I'm just trying to lower your body heat to prevent a Pyro core reaction. Don't make a fuss about it."

Minnie looked at her, her eyes roaming over the face of the older girl. She felt that change in the magical flow—the forced application of the frost to cover what was happening inside of Miyeon. Minnie knew now. She knew what she had felt. But looking at those eyes filled with such fear and fierce determination, Minnie couldn’t help but keep the questions at bay.

She would not try to push. At least, not right here and in front of everyone else.

“Right,” Minnie whispered in response, giving Miyeon a comforting smile to calm her shoulders from their tension. “Just normal Cryo. Thanks.”

Back at the other end of the cave, Soojin quietly observed the two of them, her wise eyes noting how tightly Miyeon’s hands were still holding onto Minnie, as well as the subtle trace of the vaporize reaction that was still lingering around them. Without saying a single word, Soojin gave a thoughtful glance in their direction before twirling one of her Dendro daggers in her fingers.

“The sun is beginning to set behind the western ridges,” Soyeon informed everyone, rising to her feet and looking towards the horizon through the thick Dendro vines. The scorching white light of noon was slowly fading away into the deep purples and oranges of twilight. “The divine sweeps are going to be concentrating on the valley regions now. Prepare yourselves, we’re leaving in ten minutes.”

Yuqi stood up from her position against the wall, stretching her arms so that a few pops were heard in her joints. "Finally! If I'd stayed in this cave even a little while longer, I might have turned into a rock myself."

With everyone starting to stir and gather their things, as well as make sure that all their weapons were ready, Miyeon finally released her hold on Minnie's arm. Without her touch, the cold breeze felt particularly hollow in her skin. Miyeon stood up abruptly, grabbing her bag and her bow and making sure not to look directly at Minnie's face again.

Minnie remained sitting for a brief moment before standing up too, holding out her hand to pick up the bow that Soojin made for her. Cradling the hard yet flexible Dendro material in her right hand, Minnie glanced down at the empty hydro puddle. Its energy had drained out entirely, leaving nothing but wet stone behind.

She didn’t have her bracelet, nor did she have any source of water. What she had left to stop herself from being burnt alive by her explosive fire was the girl who currently stood in front of the cave, holding a secret which could change everything for both of them.

Standing up, Minnie slung her bag over her shoulder and stepped into line behind Miyeon, ready to face whatever lay waiting for them in the dark.

Chapter Text

Twilight gave way to a deep and starless night as the girls trekked along the rocky trail, away from the ridgeline of the mountainside. Leading the group in absolute silence, Soyeon utilized the least amount of her Electro power possible to monitor the pressure of the atmosphere and to check that no sensors of the gods were following their movement at all.

Only after reaching the small secondary rock alcove sheltered behind an uneven pile of jagged rocks did Minnie begin to feel her chest tighten; the cooling sensation of Miyeon's touch long gone and the cool night air causing the Pyro inside her to hum loudly.

"We'll spend the night here. There will be no fire tonight. The view is too exposed," Soyeon said quietly, giving instructions for everyone to unload their gear. "Yuqi, you'll have to set up the perimeter again."

Nodding, Yuqi gently placed her palms on the ground, and with her powers, raised a soft layer of Geo stone that enclosed the whole group inside the little shelter from the elements and prying eyes. Soojin quickly took the other end of the shelter, gently encouraging a few Dendro vines to form a barrier over Yuqi’s stone wall.

Minnie slumped back against the rock with some labored breaths. She rummaged through her bag, feeling the familiar contours of her possessions, and finally found herself gripping onto the old journal of her clan. She needed something to distract herself from the heat inside her body.

The pyro wielder looked around, meeting the eyes of Miyeon, who was calmly sitting nearby, her bow held in her laps. Without saying anything, she laid open her hand, allowing one tiny, extremely compacted flame to escape from her thumb and press against the Pyro mark on the journal.

It sparked, made a click sound and the thick paper pages opened themselves up, landing right where the next sealed page would be.

As Minnie approached the bioluminescent moss Soojin placed near the wall, she could see how rushed KTY's writing must have been, as it was written in very strong lines and sharp movements.

Minnie cleared her throat softly, drawing the attention of the resting girls, and began to read aloud:

Entry 3 – The Breaking Point of Balance

If you are reading this, it means you have survived long enough to seek the truth, or you are running out of time, much like I am.

In my last entry, I spoke of the beauty of the Vaporize reaction—how Hydro and Pyro complement each other, turning absolute weaknesses into unbreakable strengths. But I would be a fool, and a liar, if I did not warn you of the dangerous threshold we walk upon. Balance is a fragile thing in a world governed by cruel gods.

When HMY and I first began to combine our elements, the synergy was intoxicating. My fire, which used to tear my body apart from the inside, found a perfect, fluid anchor in her. For the first time in my life, I could unleash my full power without fearing that my own heart would burn to ash. I thought we were invincible.

But magic always demands a price.

The Heavenly Gods do not fear our individual elements, they fear our unity. They fear what happens when the elements begin to intertwine and erase the limitations they intentionally placed upon humanity. When HMY pushed the boundaries of her element into the forbidden art of blood bending, it wasn't just her curiosity driving her—it was desperation. We were trying to find a way to make the elemental synchronization permanent, to anchor her liquid energy within my volatile veins forever so we would never have to be separated.

We failed. The gods caught wind of our experiments, and the cataclysm followed shortly after.

To my descendants, the Pyro wielders who carry the burden of my volatile bloodline: you must understand that the Hydro wielder you seek is not just a tool for your stabilization. The bond is a two-way current. If your fire is too wild, you risk evaporating their essence completely. If their water is too overwhelming, they can drown your core until you are nothing but smoke.

BJH, the first Cryo wielder, often watched us with deep concern during those dark days. She wrote extensively in her own records about the dangers of elemental codependency. She used to tell me, 'Taeyeon, you are looking for a cage to hold your fire, but she is looking for a sun to warm her sea. If neither of you yields, you will destroy each other before the gods even touch you.'

I lost her because I was too reckless with my flame. I let my emotions overheat my core, and in her desperation to save me from burning out, HMY gave too much of her own life force to cool my internal fire. It broke her health, and it ultimately led to her demise.

If you find the last Hydro wielder of this world, do not make my mistake. Do not just take their coolness to save yourself. You must learn to give your warmth in return, to protect them as fiercely as they stabilize you. The bond only works if it is an equal exchange. If you use them merely as a shield against your own curse, you will lose them, just as I lost her.

My time grows shorter. The sky is turning a sickening, holy gold outside my window. They are coming for the journals, but they will not find them. I will bury this deep within the ley lines of our homeland.

Find the balance. Protect the one who holds the water.

– signed KTY, first pyro wielder.

Minnie's voice tapered off into a murmur as she finished with the last line, the oppressive silence of the alcove weighing heavily over them.

Her eyes were locked onto the fading signature, her heartbeat rapidly drumming within her chest. Do not just take their coolness to save yourself. You must learn to give your warmth in return.

"The first users... They loved each other very much, didn't they?" Yuqi breathed quietly, the playfulness usually seen in her completely absent. She shifted her gaze to the solid walls that she erected. "It was more than just about battling. It was love."

"It sounds like a tragedy," Shuhua said softly, holding on tight to her weapon while gazing downwards. The swirling air around her feet was evidence of the Anemo air she was letting out in her anxiety. "The gods went as far as destroying everything due to the fear of those two elements combining."

Soyeon remained silent, her eyes glued to the entrance of the alcove, though the sharp crackle of Electro in the air hinted of her ire against the history of the heavenly gods.

Minnie carefully put down the diary and looked around in the dim light till her eyes fell upon Miyeon.

Miyeon was looking directly at Minnie, her dark eyes wide open and without a blink. The whole story about the gods coming after Minnie, the border line between Pyro and Hydro, and finally the horrifying fact that a Hydro power could sacrifice him or herself just to prevent a Pyro heart from dying—everything seemed to be suspended in the thick air.

Miyeon was shaking with fear. Not because of the gods outside; it was clear she was afraid of some ancient knowledge reflected in Minnie’s eyes. Her hands were shaking a little while holding her bow. The crackling sound of the Dendro moss was the only noise heard in that narrow stone niche.

A minute passed in silence. The feeling of KTY’s warning hung heavy in the air and changed their entire way of thinking in a second.

Minnie couldn’t take her eyes off Miyeon. Miyeon’s typically composed and graceful appearance had crumbled. . Hearing her family's ancestor, BJH, quoted directly in Minnie's clan journal had stripped away her defenses.

She is looking for a sun to warm her sea.

A wave of intense guilt washed over Minnie suddenly. Minnie recalled how her core had greedily sucked up Miyeon’s cooling energy when they were trapped in that cave. She hadn’t thought about it then; all she wanted was to stay alive through the unbearable heat. But what if Miyeon was the last Hydro-type user? Was Minnie stealing her life force away every time she reached out?

"Minnie unnie," the soft voice of Shuhua broke through the tense air. Minnie looked at the younger girl who looked concerned and confused. "Your hands... they’re sparking again."

Minnie looked down. As expected, faint, unpredictable streaks of orange flame were starting to form around the living, wooden bow in Minnie’s lap. Her Pyro core was flaring from the strong emotions induced by reading her entry. She pulled back her hands, scared of incinerating the weapon that Soojin had made for her.

Before her anxiety could build into an uncontrolled frenzy, Miyeon acted.

“Let me,” Miyeon whispered. Her tone held a deep desperation, as if she knew that this one task could be the only thing standing between her sister and a mental breakdown.

With no hesitation, she crawled over the tiny dirt space between the two, eyes fixed on Minnie’s hands. However, before Miyeon could reach her, Minnie took a move she had never taken before.

Minnie flinched away.

Miyeon stopped suddenly, her hands in midair above them. S A look of profound hurt flashed across her face, quickly replacing the panic. “Minnie? What are you doing? Your core is overheating, you need to stabilize—"

"I can't," Minnie choked as she leaned against the boulder beside her, her voice strained as she clamped her hands around her own body. "I know what I've read, Miyeon. I listened to what KTY said, HMY was sick because she put herself out too far for her Pyro wielder. I...I don't want to do that for you."

Everyone else stared in shock. Soyeon's analytical mind flickered through all the connections she could make, while Soojin let her gaze soften into one of compassion and understanding.

"Minnie, this is getting crazy," Miyeon protested as her hands shook slightly, but she reached out, grasping Minnie's wrists. "I'm a Cryo wielder. It's just my frost, I can handle it."

"Don't lie to me!" Minnie cried as she started shaking again, this time a tear streaking down her flushed cheek and immediately vanishing into thin air. "It's not like Shuhua's frost, Miyeon! It's never been! It's like a puddle, it's like water!"

The admission hung in the air like a thunderclap.

Miyeon froze in place as her breathing became erratic. She glanced across the circle toward her other friends as she heard their shocked reactions. Yuqi’s mouth was gaping, Shuhua’s face displayed pure bewilderment, and Soyeon was eyeing Miyeon intensely, which showed Miyeon knew she couldn’t hide anything now.

The secret Miyeon had carried throughout her life—one that her family hid for many generations to keep her safe from the vengeance of the gods—had been uncovered in a dimly lit corner of an abandoned mountain.

As Miyeon bowed her head, she shook slightly as she released a weak, dejected laugh. Miyeon looked back into the eyes of Minnie as the artificial frost she normally produced around her hands dissipated to reveal a ring of pristine, glowing Hydro energy.

"You're an idiot, Minnie," Miyeon muttered in response, her own tears falling from her eyes as she forced her water-laden hands on top of Minnie's fiery wrists. "Did you miss the part where BJH said I was looking for a sun? I'm not just giving it away. I need your warmth. If you push me away, my sea just stagnates."

As their elements fused in response to their touch in the absence of lies in the way, the result was nothing less than spectacular. A fine white mist, made of the purest vapor possible, emerged between their entwined hands, creating a cozy humid atmosphere, which smelled of raindrops and ozone.

Minnie gasped in response to the energy rush into her, but there was no sense of being robbed this time because she wasn't trying to resist. Instead, Minnie's Pyro energy naturally resonated with Hydro, answering it back with gentle waves of warmth.

It was a perfect fusion, a harmonious connection. For once in their entire adventure, neither element felt like a curse to the other one.

Not only did the unexpected discovery shatter the silence; it shattered the entire delicate basis on which this team had come together.

While Shuhua was someone who had already known Miyeon in better times, Soyeon and Yuqi were not connected to the older girl by any long-term history. Instead, she was merely an outsider, one of higher status who had been allowed to join their team only because of the vehement recommendations that Shuhua made and Miyeon's timely offer of protection through the lower valleys. However, as tacticians and teammates, it affected them in very different ways.

It was Shuhua who broke first.

With a roar of rage, she unleashed a violent tempest of Anemo wind from her boots, lashing at Yuqi's stony defenses. At the same moment, jagged and deadly fragments of Cryo ice formed all around her in a swirl of her rapidly escalating emotions.

“A performance?!” Shuhua shrieked, her voice breaking into heart-wrenching agony. Her eyes filled with tears that immediately froze into minute ice particles before hitting the ground. “Every day, unnie! Whenever I asked you about how to form my frost arrows, whenever I tried to lower my body temperature, you sat there and gave me false guidance! You made me think that we were from the same bloodline!”

“Shuhua, calm yourself down, your elements are going berserk,” Soojin said soothingly, moving forward without heeding the fragments of ice flying through the air. The girl grabbed Shuhua firmly from behind and enveloped her in a warm hug, sending her Dendro energy into the air in a way that would allow her to produce vines, which quickly wound their way around Shuhua’s legs and held her down.

Even as she hugged the crying younger girl, Soojin raised her head, those normally serene eyes looking at Miyeon with a terrifying chilliness. “But Shuhua was right to be angry, Miyeon. You had us thinking that you belonged among us. How can you even pretend to have an element?”

Trembling and backed up against the rough boulder, Miyeon blurted out, “I didn’t lie to you entirely! It’s just… thermal manipulation. I don’t actually make frost out of nowhere. I’m using the Hydro part of me to take out moisture in the air, compressing it instantly until it freezes to become ice. From the outside, it looks exactly like Cryo Archery. But it's just a mask.”

"Mask that you once wore on us," Soyeon moved up, her voice slicing through the thick fog as though it were a knife. She kept her catalyst book by her side, an aggressive violet burst of Electro power dancing over her fingers. As the team leader, she was overcome with a very calculated rage. "I don't give a damn what sort of problems you have in your household, Miyeon. But one thing I do care about is the welfare of this team. We brought you onto the squad because we thought we knew the parameters of who you were. It seems to me now that you've lied to us, and you've made our whole journey into a death trap without even informing me!"

"And what about Minnie?" Yuqi asked, moving to stand next to Soyeon. Although Geo wasn’t particularly close with Miyeon, she had an unbreakable bond with Minnie. Her mouth tensed, and her eyes blazed a dangerous amber. "You watched her suffer, Miyeon. You saw the agony Minnie went through every single day she had to wear those heavy metal suppressive cuffs. You watched her skin blister from her own core. If Minnie hadn't forced your hand tonight, would you have ever stepped in? Or would you have let her internal fire consume her just to keep your secret safe?"

"No, that isn’t…"  Miyeon choked out, her voice breaking as she looked at Minnie with a desperate, silent plea. "My family died for this element. The gods slaughtered our entire Hydro lineage. I… I was taken by the Cryo royalty and adopted into their lineage to hide me away so that no one would know who I really am. My adoptive father… the leader of the Cryo royal lineage… he always knew the truth."

Miyeon dabbed at her face, crying tears as she did so, while shivering in her seat. "When the divine gods came after us, when he could have had me turned over to them, he kept silent, arranging for my supposed disappearance among the mountains. He let me go and sent me out into the world because he believed it was changing; he wanted me to understand the truth about my very own Hydro Element for myself, away from the royal courts. I was trying to protect his sacrifice! If the tracking arrays register active Hydro, they will burn the Cryo kingdom to the ground!"

The past she shared made the whole alcove stifling.

Minnie was totally stuck right in the center with her heart beating an intense, tortured beat inside her chest. She did not know which side to take; on one hand, there was KTY's words ringing inside her head, and Minnie knew with certainty that this was her Hydro, the very piece that she had been looking for, to make herself whole again and save her from her curse. She felt for Miyeon in all her fear and fragility.

On the other hand, there was Soyeon, Yuqi, Soojin, and Shuhua, those people who had saved her, who had given their blood for her sake, who had picked her up off the floor when her soul was falling apart. Their fury was not cruel; it was the protective rage of a pack who had been lied to.

She glanced at Shuhua, who was now sobbing quietly against Soojin’s shoulder as the rest of the ice fragments melted away, creating puddles on the floor. She glanced at Soyeon, whose body was tense with protectiveness, and Yuqi, who glared protectively as well. Her strong, unshakable connection with her companions prevented her from crossing the dirt, despite the pleas of her Pyro core, and embracing the Hydro wielder.

Chapter Text

The oppressive tension that hung in the air in the alcove was suddenly gone, replaced by a thunderous cracking noise above them.

The strengthened ceiling that Yuqi had created cracked apart due to some blinding power, and as pieces of rock and dirt rained down from the sky, a towering divine scout descended from the sky and landed among them. Just as they scrambled to get away, the ground shook violently and then dirt turned into blinding gold light, and a second divine scout shot up out of the ground, tearing apart its rocky disguise to become an ethereal, glowing armored giant filled with holy radiance.

Its blank eyes immediately settled on Miyeon, the tracking arrays having finally pinpointed her location.

"Hydro source!" It bellowed, the vibrations making their teeth vibrate as it raised its glowing halberd to strike Miyeon in the chest.

Regardless of how much betrayal they were feeling, their fighting instincts kicked in without any delay, their high defense positions being already primed because of the argument.

"Over my dead body!" Soyeon yelled. Her catalyst glowed fiercely as she dissolved her physical form to become an electrocute-like lighting bolt. With an ear-splitting crash, she flew at the underground scout, striking it straight in the chest and severely hampering the movement of the scout through the force of Electro energy.

"I've got it!" Yuqi said, banging both her fists hard on the shuddering ground, creating large blocks of Geo stone which came out of the ground and assembled themselves into a thick layer of hexagons around the staggering scout.

A fraction of a second later, Soojin acted. "Cut off its movements!" Soojin shouted as she cast a spell using Dendro powers, sending waves of moss and tough vines around Yuqi's stone layer, effectively binding the pieces together.

Across the shattered alcove, Shuhua stared at Miyeon with intense bitterness amid the dust that continued to fly around, with her heart heavy with the hurt caused by her unnie’s lie. However, when the scout from above lifted its gleaming blade and prepared to attack the vulnerable Hydro waver, Shuhua allowed her rage to subside, allowing her protective instincts to triumph. "Unnie! You still owe me an explanation!" Shuhua shrieked, rushing toward the scout with a blizzard of Cryo ice and Anemo wind to push it away.

However, the scout from above knew that it was coming. The scout gave a vicious, holy smile and then swung down its weapon, releasing a wave of divine light, which caught Shuhua in the middle of her charge, and forced Shuhua and Soojin to take up defensive positions instantly.

Miyeon slumped against the stone wall, completely trapped by the divine light released by the scouts, with her Hydro core beating with fear in her body.

"Miyeon!" Minnie cried out.

Without any care for the history, the deception, and the dangers, Minnie leapt across the deteriorating dirt with her hands clutching tightly onto the lively wooden bow made especially for her by Soojin. Her bracelet was nowhere to be found and her Pyro core raged on, but she was no longer afraid.

She reached out her hand and slapped it onto Miyeon's palm forcefully.

The instant that their palms touched, the words of the ancients in KTY echoed in Minnie's head like wildfire: With their vaporize reactions, their weaknesses will become their strength.

"We fight together," screamed Minnie through clenched teeth as her powers unlocked. "Give me your direction!"

Miyeon looked Minnie dead in the eye with a hardened resolve replacing the fear in her gaze. "Take it!" she shouted.

Rather than pretend that it was cold air that surrounded her, Miyeon revealed her true elemental power. The vast, whirling Hydro energy burst forth from within her core and spiraled upward gracefully along Minnie's arm, covering the lively wooden bow in its embrace. Minnie pulled the bowstring taut and her Pyro core released a concentrated wave of intense heat.

The elements came together in perfect harmony, just as promised in the ancient journals. The arrow loaded to the bow was no ordinary fire or water—it was a highly pressurized and extremely bright blast of burning Vaporize power, crackling with explosive force.

When the divine scout attacked, breaking through Shuhua's wind barrier, Minnie released the string. The vaporize blast burst in a deafening roar and an explosion of steam, fire and holy power all converged into one deadly wave on the divine entity, dramatically turning the tables on the opponent in a split second.

The scalding beam of Vaporize power was shot from the bow with the strength of a bursting geyser. When the steam met the holy armor, it happened in a split second, exploding and cracking the chest plate of the scout. With a loud and metallic cry of pain, the celestial being was blasted against the cave wall by immense pressure, covering in thick fog.

"Now, Yuqi! Smash it!" Soyeon's voice rang out through the crackling Electro fog as she reappeared, her knees crouching from the shockwave of power that came from sprinting on a stream of lightning.

Yuqi did not have to be told twice. With a loud battle cry, she rotated her wrists and smashed them against each other. Not only did the stone slates that she summoned resist the force, but they contracted. Together with Soojin’s tightening Dendro vines, which were as hard as steel now, the Geo barrier crushed the underground scout under piles upon piles of heavy, reinforced mountain rocks.

Shuhua, for her part, used the smoke screen created by the dense Vaporize to swoop down behind the flying scout and the whirling blade of its halberd. She twisted around to send forth a swirling, localized blast of Anemo energy, which scooped up the falling rocks and shot Cryo shards of ice straight through the gaps in the scout’s broken armor.

"Don't think this means you're off the hook!" Shuhua called over the sound of the gusts, glancing Miyeon's way for just a fleeting second, eyes ablaze with the same fiery pain before getting back to what mattered – the fight against the upper scout.

Minnie braced herself in place despite the ground giving away under her boots, taking hard breaths in an effort to calm herself, her skin flush from the sheer power of her core. It was as though there was nothing left, no burning pressure weighing on her anymore, everything she was being held within balance by the Hydro surge in her system.

Miyeon, meanwhile, remained beside her with her fingers tightly entwined with hers. In that instant, she didn’t feel the usual cold tingle from the power inside her, only its warm flow through her body. She let it wash over her while Minnie used it to anchor her own flame within.

"Reinforcements are coming," Soojin informed them, her palm pressed against the floor of the cavern as she detected the vibrations on the path from her Dendro roots. "The array that's directing them to us is buzzing. If we don't leave immediately, we'll be completely overwhelmed by heavenly soldiers in less than five minutes."

"We're pulling out," Soyeon declared, slamming her closed catalyst book shut before looking directly into Miyeon's eyes, clearly indicating that the battle was not over yet; it was simply postponed. "Minnie, sever your link enough that you can run but keep yourself tethered to Miyeon. Should your core flare up while we're running, there would be an explosion on this mountain."

Minnie turned to Miyeon, carefully releasing the tight clenching of her hand to where she wasn't pressing her palm against Miyeon's anymore, leaving only their fingers touching each other's wrists. It was a shock to Minnie when the energy between them abruptly lessened, although the steady hum persisted.

"Can you run?" Minnie whispered in a soft voice, her eyes searching for Miyeon's tear-stained face.

Miyeon, who was wiping her tears with her hand, nodded and clutched at her bow. The glowing Hydro rings around her wrists faded back beneath her skin, but she didn't try to summon the fake Cryo frost this time. The mask was off for good. "I can run," Miyeon murmured, her voice steadying. "I'm not hiding anymore."

"Good. Because we have a lot of explaining to do once we're safe, unnie." Yuqi kicked the shattered divine armor away from herself while running out of the destroyed alcove towards the exit.

While being protected by Soojin and Shuhua behind them from a combination of dense briars and whirling winds, all six of them ran outside the destroyed alcove as the holy horns of heavenly gods started echoing from far.

The jagged trail seemed to cling precariously onto the cliff walls, illuminated in a threateningly pale golden light by the divine scouting arrays that watched overhead through the cloud cover. They marched as one dark shadow broken into pieces, the silence between them as oppressive as any real danger that dogged their trail.

Shuhua walked near the rear of the pack, keeping their trail obscured by manipulating the currents of her Anemo element to erase their footsteps, but always with her gaze fixed ahead, her eyes burning holes into the back of Miyeon’s head. Each time she glanced at her, Shuhua did not see an elegant Cryo archer, she saw a stranger shrouded by a lifetime of deception.

"We have to keep up," Soyeon growled ahead of her in the front. Her body seemed to shimmer faintly with bursts of unstable violet energy. Soyeon was pushing the limit of her abilities, relying on her senses of Electro to navigate a path safe from the blind spots of the divine tracking network. "We're running out of options here. Dead end and it's all over."

Minnie continued running steadily next to Miyeon, with her fingers still loosely gripping the wrist of the older girl. The touch was delicate, but the consequences inside were immense. At each bump on the rugged terrain, little waves of Hydro power ran under Miyeon’s skin, perfectly balancing Minnie’s chaotic bursts of Pyro power. This elegant tango between Vaporize and itself in a constant, perfect equilibrium.

"In here," Yuqi said, suddenly swerving off their path into a gaping crack high up in the rocky face of the mountain.

They all crawled through the narrow entrance one after another into a huge trench carved right through the middle of the mountain. It was wet, dark, and completely invisible from above.

Once they got to the bottom, Soyeon put her arm up and signaled for everyone to stop. Soyeon didn’t unload her bag. She simply turned slowly, holding her catalysts and glowing with the menacing light of her fading violet sparks.

The silence in the trench felt like suffocation.

Shuhua didn't wait. As soon as her boots stopped, she was right in Miyeon’s personal space, breathing heavily, and her breath made the air foggy from where they stood because of a cold sensation coming from her. "You lied right to my face," Shuhua said as her voice trembled with the anguish brought by her raging anger and broken heart. "You saw me struggling to coat my sword with Cryo abilities, making me figure out myself how to properly execute my sword pose while all you did was lie to me!"

Miyeon jumped when she caught a glimpse of the young girl, her bottom lip quivering with emotion as tears filled her eyes. The royal, unreachable poise that she had held so gracefully over the years was utterly broken down by the anguish in Shuhua’s eyes. “Shuhua… I wanted to tell you. Everyday, I wanted to tell you,” she struggled to say, the words coming out as barely a whisper. “But my adoptive father... the king... he made me swear on my life. He said the gods have a global tracking array specifically tuned to the frequency of Hydro cores. If I let the element slip, even to another wielder, the resonance would trigger the heavenly sensors. It wasn't about a lack of trust. I was keeping the frost lands from burning to ash.”

"But you made Minnie suffer," Yuqi placed her hands on her hips, her amber eyes blazing with an unwavering ferocity as she stood next to Shuhua. As the geo pillar of the squad, her devotion to Minnie ran deep. "You had the audacity to watch her flesh sear away at her own flames. To observe her clamping on those restrictive, choking metal restraints on her wrists each and every day. Had we not compelled you to act in that alcove, would you have done anything? Would you simply allow Minnie to die by fire rather than face the same fate yourself?"

"Never!" Miyeon screamed, tears rolling down her cheeks, shining with a gentle blue luminescence before fading away. "I never would have. I was searching for a way, poring over the archives to see if any sort of stabilization could be achieved without activating the arrays—"

"That's enough," Soyeon said firmly, lowering her tone so that it chilled the very marrow of those present. She fixed her gaze not with hatred, but with the cold, calculating eyes of a commander realizing that the map he was using to navigate was completely wrong. "Your past traumas may explain your actions, Miyeon. They do not alter the facts. The fact remains that I am the head of this unit. I need to ensure that we save five lives against an army of gods. I calculate my routes with the factors I am aware of. By concealing your actual elemental form, you have made our entire mission one of sure death. You didn't just lie to us, you took away our choice to defend ourselves properly."

Minnie stood in the middle of the group, feeling as though there was a knot in her chest when she looked at Miyeon and the intense faces of her friends. She was literally being torn in half. KTY’s words echoed in her veins—they had found their missing puzzle pieces. It was incontestable proof that Minnie had found her place in life through Miyeon’s power. Half of her longed to push Miyeon behind her and tell everyone else to back off.

But she couldn’t.

She looked at Shuhua’s still shaking hands from the sting of broken trust. She looked at Yuqi who had protected her at any cost, and at Soyeon who held their world on her shoulders. These young ladies were her family. And their fury was not malicious, it was merely a defense instinct of a pack that had been blindsided.

Soojin moved into the clearing, her soft Dendro powers whispering through her hands as she touched Shuhua, helping to regulate the young girl's wild temperature. She looked at Miyeon, her face a pained look of sympathy. "We aren't your enemies, Miyeon. But a connection born of fear is nothing more than a prison. In order to make it through whatever is coming next, we need to know whether you are joining our circle, or just following along."

Miyeon took a look around at the five faces surrounding her, the weight of reality pressing down into the wet dirt beneath her feet. Gone was the mask, along with the crown, leaving her with nothing but the terrible decision of whether to trust those who had just saved her life.

Chapter Text

The thick silence of the underground trench seemed to stretch endlessly, broken only by the occasional sound of the heavenly trackers buzzing above their heads like giant bees.

Miyeon kept her head lowered, her shoulders shaking from the pressure of five different stares. This was an unexpected vulnerability on the part of the princess who they had all come to know as unapproachable. She stared down at her hands, which were able to create waves of change with a mere gesture, and knew that the walls she had built up so carefully were now completely down around her.

"I never thought of you as a shield, Shuhua," Miyeon breathed shakily, breaking the silence at last. She raised her gaze, revealing two large, tear-filled eyes that had been staring into empty space. "And I didn’t give you some fake advice. You anchoring yourself with flow energy in order to prevent the Cryo from breaking your sword arm was genuine. I only… needed to adapt it according to what I already knew. If I had let the real source of my thermal control, the tracking arrays would have found us in an instant. I was so scared. I have been spending all my life hearing that the only thing I can offer is death."

"So you chose to let us stand next to you completely blind," Soyeon stated. The anger in her voice had cooled into something far more dangerous: detached, calculated assessment. She leaned her shoulder against the damp stone wall of the trench, her catalyst book floating restlessly beside her hip. "You let me map out our paths under the assumption that our highest-profile target was a volatile Pyro core that we could clamp down with a metal bracelet. I built our entire evasion strategy around Minnie. Now I find out you're carrying a core that the heavenly gods will tear this entire continent apart to find."

"Soyeon, she was only trying to survive—" Minnie began, her voice desperate as she made a half-move towards Miyeon.

"Minnie, stay back," Yuqi cut in softly yet with firmness in her voice, her golden eyes fixated only on Miyeon. The geo wielder’s hands were tightly crossed in front of her body. "Minnie, I love you so much, but do you even realize how many times I have risked my life to save yours from those scouts? But what Soyeon says is true. Not only it concerns Miyeon’s trauma now. It’s about the fact that she sat by and watched how badly you burned. How you choked wearing those cuffs. No matter how afraid she was for the gods, she knew what she meant to you. She knew she was your anchor, and she chose her own safety over your agony."

"This isn't fair!" exclaimed Miyeon, as defensive fear welled up inside of her. "I was trying to come up with a solution! I spent all night studying the royal text books my adopted father had given me to try and come up with a solution for leaking sufficient Hydro energy into Minnie’s core without setting off a high level vaporize frequency that the world-wide sensory network would detect! I didn’t want her to feel pain. But if I revealed myself before we knew how to secure the resonance frequency, the holy soldiers would execute not only me but everyone in this trench!" 

Miyeon drew a quick, shuddering breath, meeting Minnie's gaze fully. "And no, I hadn't been idling either. Those muted areas you came across? Those dead zones that kept your elemental energies hidden from divine detection? They were mine. Every time I compressed my Hydro element into the state of Cryo, it generated enough pressure to create a localized void that rendered the surrounding area devoid of any magic I created those muted zones for your benefit. Even that little patch of water you found in the very first cave you used for training. It was all mine. I fed my magic through the stone."

The girls stared at her, stunned, as Miyeon's confession took an entirely different turn.

"I knew you were in these mountains," confessed Miyeon in a shaking voice. "The moment I felt you months prior to our first encounter was when I recognized the lingering effect of a Pyro's presence along the ley lines and was afraid to even approach you. However, as the state of the world continued deteriorating and I kept watching as Minnie's state worsened every day, I understood that you wouldn't stand a chance against the power of the bracelet anymore. While it was hard for me to approach you after years of being conditioned not to show my identity, I began dropping subtle hints. The hydro puddle, the placement of the muted zones, elemental traces… These were all pieces of evidence leading straight to me. I hoped that you would have the opportunity to deduce my identity, but as I witnessed Minnie reaching the limits of her endurance, I realized I couldn't do nothing anymore. I needed to step in and introduce myself in the muted area where we first met."

Shuhua let out a sharp breath turning her face away as Soojin stroked her back, suppressing the volatile Anemo energy from erupting out of control. The hurt of the betrayal was still raw in her throat, the image of Miyeon casually offering sword-stance tips while harboring the world’s most dangerous elemental secret burning behind her eyelids, even if her intentions had been rooted in a desperate attempt to help.

Minnie stood rigidly amidst the dividing line, her heart beating frantically in her chest. Thoughts of conflicting loyalty swirled in her head. While one part of her was overwhelmed with the life-changing sense of relief, her core finally feeling warm and safe after years of being filled with fiery destruction, the other part of her couldn’t take the pain of being torn between friends any more. Proving that all that KTY had written was true, she witnessed the flawless merging of the two elements of fire and water seamlessly blending together without harming anyone.

Yet the sight of Shuhua's crying face and Yuqi's rigid posture brought her back around. These four girls were her family. They didn't take her in due to some old prophecy, they had helped her through the mud, fed her with their own meager rations, and even risked themselves when her core got too heated. The rage that consumed them was not a malicious one, it was the primal defense mechanism of a group that had found itself ambushed unexpectedly. To side with Miyeon now would be to ignore the danger they had only just escaped.

"Whatever happened in the past cannot be undone," said Soojin calmly, in that level tone that always managed to calm the entire team down whenever the atmosphere got too electric. Her gaze skipped over Shuhua and landed on Miyeon, intense and searching. "And Soyeon's tracking parameters will get us nothing right now, the whole mountain must be crawling with scouts. If we stay in this trench arguing, the choice won't matter anyway."

Miyeon blinked away tears and drew in a shaky breath as she examined the Dendro wielder.

"You've taken the mask off," Soojin said softly, though her expression remained guarded. "You aren't an exiled royal hiding under Cryo's cloak any longer. You either run with us, or you fight with us—no ifs or buts. You won't use your pretenses of frost or play games anymore. Are you ready to lay everything on the line for this circle, or are we just a temporary escort until you find a better hiding place?"

Miyeon gazed at each of the five, feeling the weight of her decisions as they sunk into the muddy soil of the trench. There was nothing left of her old self—the mask, the title were mere symbols—just a frightening decision to trust those who saved her life a moment ago.

"I'm not running away from you," Miyeon whispered, her voice quivering as she made a determined step towards the middle of the circle, her bare hands embracing a glimmering bioluminescence of the trench. "I will give you all that I am. No more masks."

The subterranean trench finally opened out into an immense and abandoned overlook somewhere midway down the northern face of the mountain range. Below them, the world lay open in a rough landscape of deep valleys and meandering rivers, yet the skyline had been stripped away by an ominous gold glow that beat steadily against the clouds—this was the worldwide tracking system of the heavenly laws at full alert, buzzing with a dangerous, predatory energy.

Soyeon stood right at the edge of the drop-off, her catalyst book spinning frantically in a hurried circle around her shoulder. Violent violet Electro sparks flared wildly from her fingertips as she gauged the atmospheric pressure.

"Scans are no longer limited to the local area," Soyeon began, lowering her tone into one that commanded complete silence from all those assembled before her. "They're extending their scanners out from their capital city. They can detect a Hydro core at work, and the divine army is moving toward us in full force. This is no longer about capturing a handful of renegade wielders—we are under attack."

"Running into the north will be nothing more than a suicide mission," Yuqi said, leaning on her large Geo claymore against a boulder. She stared down into the valleys below, jaw clenched. "They will have us trapped out there in the open. If the divine principles have struck down the first wave, we need people. We need a base."

Minnie stepped up, holding the wooden bow over her shoulder. The girl's skin was unblemished from any blister for the first time in months. Her Pyro core ran in perfect sync with the remaining coolness of Miyeon's aura that radiated beside her.

"We go back," Minnie said softly, but with such strength behind her tone that it caused Soyeon to turn her head. "We will return to our homeland, the Yontararak valleys."

"You're crazy!" Shuhua cried out, but her hand holding onto the handle of her sword had a defensive position, with her Anemo powers sending gusts of wind that blew across the grass in her vicinity. "The gods keep an eye out for everything that happens in the territories of the main clans. If we enter the hometowns, we’ll just be escorting the vanguard right to our families."

"No, Minnie is right," said Miyeon, walking out of the shadows as she stood up straight, her regality restored to her once again as she dropped the facade that had weighed her down. "The Cho clan—my adoptive family—and the Yeh clan control the northern frost peaks. All these years, we've been acting as though we are the most loyal to the gods, but my adoptive father didn't let me go just to watch me run forever. He knew the breaking point was coming. The Cryo archives hold the defensive blueprints from the first cataclysm.."

Minnie’s eyes lit up as she nodded. “From KTY’s journal, we learned that the first element wielders’ failure was due to recklessness. They kept hiding themselves, fighting alone, allowing their elements to clash and tear each other down out of fear. However, we’ve known all along about the truth. My clan holds the offensive flame energy, while the Cho and Yeh clans hold the defensive ice energy. We only need to meld the fire of Yontararak together with the ice energy of the Cho and Yeh, creating a Melt-and-Vaporize grid that will short-circuit the divine tracking grids.”

A sense of gravity enveloped the cool evening breeze. War between the element wielders and the gods. Cataclysm once again, but now humanity knew better from the lessons of history, making sure not to repeat their disastrous blunders.

Soyeon stepped forward to look at the flat stone surface that Yuqi created from the earth. The young girl waved her arm, summoning a holographic Electro map of the continent to float above the stone surface.

"If we do this, we do it with absolute precision," ordered Soyeon, her eyes blazing with tactical passion as she quickly assumed the mantle of strategist for their entire campaign. She stabbed an electric finger at the southern valley. "Minnie, the Yontararak clan shall lead the front line charge. You must set the stage for the fire and be the catalyst for the primary strike, but not without a base to anchor it."

She turned her eyes on Miyeon and Shuhua. "That’s where the Cho and Yeh clans come into play. Miyeon, you will serve as the rear guard of the royal Cho defenses to boost the Yeh clan's Cryo barrier with your Hydro core abilities. Shuhua, you must set up your sword stance, and use Anemo to spin the frost and water from the back into Minnie’s front for a solidified Melt defense strategy. We don’t stand alone anymore, we stand together as one element ecosystem."

Yuqi marched up to the map and pounded her fist down on the hidden ley lines beneath the earth. "I’ll utilize the Geo network to plot the concealed supply lines through the mountain passes. Soojin can then use the Dendro roots to send encoded messages between the clans without the gods being able to pick up on our signals."

Soojin smiled lightly at this, and her eyes glowed along with the map. "The earth and the trees know all about the first war; they’ll help us conceal our movements."

Minnie looked around the room with an immense pride welling up inside her, they weren’t mere exiled survivors anymore. They were the architects of a revolution. he reached down, her fingers intertwining with Miyeon's. The instant warmth that flooded between them was steady, powerful, and completely devoid of the panic that used to define her life.

"The gods think of us as mere scattered sparks," Minnie said softly, gazing out into the burning night beyond. "It is time for us to let them see what happens when the entire world ignites in flame."