The Legend of Magic Island | taejun + sookai

part 12: cat & mouse

Captain Soobin's eyes widened with shock, Hueningkai flinching and dropping the lantern. The clash of the metal lantern echoed through the forest, the rest of the crew falling dead silent.

Captain Soobin glanced around, his eyes looking at the last source of light that they had. They could feel a presence behind them, engulfing them in its shadow under the moonlight.

"Everyone, run!" Captain Soobin exclaimed, rushing everyone forward. Hastily, Taehyun stumbled forward and quickly sprinted ahead. The others followed, their feet pounding against the dirt.

"Go! Don't stop until you see the ship!" Captain Soobin ordered, sprinting after them. Hueningkai grabbed the captain's hand as he ran. The crew did not bother to look back, besides Beomgyu who had spared a few glances.

It seems they were running endlessly down a road that led to nowhere, as no matter how far they ran, the presence was still behind them. Yeonjun was quickly sprinting after Taehyun when a branch had blocked his path.

The boy yelped, toppling forward and his ankle aching fiercely. Yeonjun groaned, Taehyun slowing his run to a walk.

"Yeonjun!" the boy exclaimed, sprinting over and hauling him up. "Can you still walk? Are you alright?"

Yeonjun, his chest heaving, nodded swiftly. "Don't worry about me, we should keep going."

Taehyun glanced behind him, seeing the trees were being swallowed by the shadow. They could no longer see what was behind them anymore, it seemed they were running straight off of a pitch blank canvas.

Fearfully, Taehyun slung Yeonjun's arm over his shoulder and continued to run. Captain Soobin, Hueningkai, and Beomgyu followed closely afterwards. The path behind them had long disappeared, there was no turning back.

The five quickly rushed through the forest, the flame of the lantern flickering in and out. Taehyun held up the lantern, turning to Yeonjun. "We don't have much light left, how far do you think we are?"

"Not too far I would hope," Yeonjun panted, staggering along the path. "Or maybe the cat's just playing with us again."

The rest of the crew had been following closely behind. Captain Soobin slowed his running to a walk, when he heard a cold, monotonous voice whisper in his head.

"You can't run forever."

Soobin paused, looking around. He slowed his run to a walk, turning back to look behind him. Hueningkai and Beomgyu had slowed down too, panting.

"Captain? What's wrong?" Hueningkai asked between breaths. Captain Soobin looked behind him, seeing nothing but darkness behind him.

"N-Nothing, we have to keep going," he dismissed, rushing the two along. Things began to calm themselves, everyone was still and the shadow of the cat grew distant from them.

"Looks like we tired the cat out," Beomgyu snickered to himself, wiping sweat from his forehead.

"Or maybe it tired us out too," Hueningkai whimpered wearily. Tiredly, they walked until they could barely see the moon beginning to lower from the sky. They were getting closer to the outside of the island now, the path disappearing from behind them.

Soobin sighed heavily, dragging his feet along the path. As they seemed to get further away, the star's glow had slowly faded while they walked. Captain Soobin wondered if it was just their perspective, or there had been something else going on.

"Captain!" Taehyun called. "There's a clearing up ahead, the ship should be straight ahead!"

Captain Soobin gestured for them to continue, lagging behind them and occasionally glancing behind him. He took another glance around the forest, hearing the silent whistling of the wind brush through his hair.