Time Magic

21

"Mingi." I called out immediately when I found myself in the living room with the two sleeping people.

"Don't shout like that, I'm standing right behind you," I heard irritably and turned around.

"The two of them have been put to sleep... Can you wake them up again? Can you do that if someone else has done it? They seem really deep inside and Jongho has to tell me the interfaces." I explained and he looked at them worriedly. He touched them both briefly on the head and they immediately rubbed their eyes and yawned. I sighed with relief.

"Thank you." I smiled at him and he nodded before disappearing into the kitchen, where I could already hear it rattling again.

"We're about to eat." Seonghwa, who had joined us in the room, informed us.

"Wait Hyung, write down... 23.12.1996. He only has this single interface. No other... I've never seen that before... As if his life ends there..." said Jongho and Seonghwa quickly sat down at the laptop to search for him.

"Kim Seokjin born 12/04/1992 died 12/23/1996... There's an article... 4 year old drowns on beach vacation." he said and my heart froze.

"I have to save him... right now... he's with us, he's the first of the witches..." I immediately said but Seonghwa shook his head.

"Noona, the interfaces end, that means his death wasn't brought about by an enemy, it's his predetermined fate, another witch will be born." Jongho tried to convince me.

"How does that make sense? He lived in the previous timeline..." I rejected him.

"Then something serious happened that changed the timeline." said San, who still seemed to be thinking about the right thing to do in such a case.

"So, if we don't have to fight, just save little Jin... Are there any new interfaces then?" I wanted to know from Jongho.

"No, they don't just appear, they come with the path you choose, but there's no path to choose here, it ends.... If he really survives... he will never interface again, his destiny is fully free. But it also means that no one can travel anywhere to see him." Jongho explained and I ran towards the kitchen, where Hongjoong was about to shove a spoonful into his mouth, but I took his hand and the food landed on the floor; before he could protest, we were already standing in the swimming pool in Busan, from the glass front of which you could see the sea. Of course it was a swimming pool, the sea was a bit fresh in Busan in December. We heard someone arguing and I turned around only to see Jin's mother with a man who looked strangely familiar.

"Look, believe me... I've been watching you... your husband and my wife are having an affair... Where is your husband now? Do you know? They've been flirting since they met here and now they've disappeared into a room together... please come with me, we have to confront them..." the man pleaded, but Mrs. Kim shook her head.

"You're wrong, he wouldn't do that, besides, I don't have time for your bullshit, I have to take care of my child.... Jin?... Kim Seokjin? Where are you?" her panicked look around made me jump too.

"Joongie... we have to find him, little boy, four years old, about to drown..." I explained and Hongjoong immediately ran to the pools. I ran to the second one and saw the little boy floating under the surface. His mother had also discovered him and was screaming her head off. Without thinking, I jumped into the water and pulled him out, laying him on the edge of the pool, where I realized that he wasn't breathing. His mother was crying and shaking him, the man from a moment ago was gone. I quickly teleported Hongjoong here, as the mother was distracted anyway. Hongjoong recognized the situation and gently pushed Mrs Kim away.

"Let me do CPR, go get the lifeguard quickly." he instructed her and she ran off. He scanned Jin with his hands and shook his head.

"I can't heal him, he's dead..." he said in dismay, but I looked at him urgently.

"Do it... I give permission as the head of the circle." I ordered him sternly and he immediately knew what I meant. Hongjoong was a necromancer, he could raise the dead as long as they hadn't been dead for too long. He placed both hands over the little one's heart and the air around him began to glow. Just as he took his hands away and the little one began to spit water, the mother and the lifeguard came and took over Jin.

"Thank you so much... You saved his life... I... thank you..." she sobbed and gave us both a quick hug. She turned back to her child and I took the opportunity to take us back home before we were stuck here again because my magic needed to regenerate so slowly. With wet clothes, I dripped all over the kitchen, where we were looked at curiously because we had disappeared so quickly. Hongjoong sat back down to continue eating when the doorbell rang.

"Just sit down, I'll go, I'm going straight to the bathroom afterwards anyway..." I said and ran to the front door. I opened it and was immediately greeted with a beaming smile and pulled into a hug.

"The way you look... you've just come back from rescuing me..."