Forest Guardians || Straykids ff

t w e n t y s e v e n

yeona

Irina stood up as she saw the glass break on the ground. "What happened?" She checked on me. "Are you hurt?" She asked, and I shook my head. The little ones got alerted and went to me as if they were guarding me.

The boys went out of the house and rushed towards me. "What was that?" Arthur asked me, and I pointed down the ground where the broken glass was. "It was an accident." I looked at Irina with an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry Irina." She gave me a smile while patting my shoulder. "It's fine." She then walked towards the broken glass and carefully picked it up. Arthur and Elijah sat down on the available seats.

After they settled down, I looked at Hyunjin who was still on my lap, staring up at me. I patted his head which he enjoyed. I don't know what you saw in that glass, but I hope you weren't mistaken. I thought, and I noticed him kinda smiling.

Then he hugged me. "I wasn't." He spoke again, as if he heard my thoughts. I wanted to smile, but I tried my best not to. I looked around and observed them through the quietness. Arthur and Elijah both grabbed a glass of water. When they were going to drink it, Hyunjin rushed to them and knocked the glasses down. He went down with the glasses and got himself hurt.

"HYUNJIN!" I yelled as I ran towards him, the little ones ran to him as well, but I stopped them or they might be hurt as well. I carefully picked him up and put him at the table. He got cuts on his back, and one of them seemed deep. A tiny drop of blood was gushing out of his wound. I grabbed a handkerchief and carefully plucked out the glass shards off his tiny body, then I pulled out my wand and cast a healing spell at him.

"Why'd he do that?" Elijah yelled in panic as he looked at Hyunjin on the table. Arthur put his finger on Elijah's lips to shut him up. "You don't have to shout, you know?" Arthur said, being agreed on by Sylvie as she nods.

Irina stood up as she heard the glasses broke again. Her expression was furious, but later softened at the sight of Hyunjin laying down on the table. "Ohh poor thing. May his soul rest in peace." My eyes widened and I slowly looked at her. Arthur and Elijah had the same expression as mine. She looked at the 3 of us with a confused look. "What?"

"He's still alive!" Elijah pointed at Hyunjin, who opened his eyes and looked at me. He slowly raised his hand towards my face, and I grabbed it. "Bring me to Moonlit Oasis. Please."

My eyebrows furrowed at him. How did he know about it? I didn't bring them there when we were at the Elven Kingdom. I know they know a lot more than me, but every time, they confuse me. I don't know what he needs to do there, but I'll bring him there.

Slowly, I lifted him and cradled him in my arms. The little ones all stood up and went beside me, as if they already knew what I was going to do, or where I was going. I looked at the boys, who were confused about what I was doing. "I have to go. I know you guys brought me here, but Hyunjin needs to seek medication. I'll see you around, I guess. Sorry." I said as we walked away. I was going to run, when a voice stopped me.

"Wait." It was Arthur's. I felt a hand on my shoulders and he emerged beside me. How did-

"We have to go as well." He added, now Elijah was behind him. Both of them bid their goodbyes to Irina and walked past me. I gave her one last look, and she waved at me with a creepy smile. I just nod at her then left.

I ran to catch up to them. I made a huge floating container box made of rocks for the little ones to rest on. I also put Hyunjin inside so he could be comfortable with our travel. "Where are you going, anyway?" Elijah broke the silence between us. "And how are we going to get out of this cave?" He added. Arthur just looked at him with a bored expression. He was probably tired of hearing Elijah talk.

"I'm going to the Elven Kingdom." I spoke. I noticed Arthur smiled with a nod. "Okay, then let's head there." I stopped on my tracks and I stared at them.

"I thought you were going to do your business?" I asked them as I caught up to them. They both stopped and turned to me. "We didn't say we're leaving to do our business. We just want to come with you." Elijah said while his hands motioned for me to come near them. He leaned near my ears and whispered. "Also, Irina seemed to be a bit suspicious." I widened my eyes.

"What do you mean?" I softly asked them. They started to walk and I followed behind them. They weren't answering my questions. For a few minutes, we were just walking. I was waiting for them to answer.

After a few minutes of walking, we reached the exit of the cave, and I guess we were in the forest again. Elijah pulled something out of his pocket. He opened and closed it like a compact mirror, then he looked at us. "We're still in Zephervale." He said then put that thing back in his pocket.

Sylvie jumped down from Arthur's shoulder and transformed into her dragon form. My jaw dropped for the second time, and Elijah was there to cover my mouth again. "Stop admiring her. The little ones will be jealous." Then I shut my mouth. "Yup, you're right." He laughed as he helped me get on Sylvie's back.

When everyone was settled down, she sped up and soared with the clouds. While travelling up in the air, Arthur turned his attention to me and spoke. "So the reason why we said Irina was suspicious." he started. I tried my best to listen to him despite the loud roaring of air on my ears.

"We examined her house, and found a lot of vials, jars, and containers with weird substances. We couldn't find the exact content of those jars in an instant." He explained.

Elijah looked through his pockets and pulled out something. It was a vial with a lid on it. "This is the smallest thing in her collection, so we stole it. We need to examine it."