˗ˏˋ 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 ᵛᵐⁱⁿᵏᵒᵒᵏ

9 • 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴

26.7.19

❧

"What-" Jeongguk didn't even get to finish his sentence before the world abruptly blew up in clouds of dark, simmering emerald.

The flash of green behind closed flaps was blinding and quick in his eyes; abrupt and sharp like the lick of heat and explosion of red overlapping orange overlapping yellow overlapping breakable human skin-

Amber and Hoseok screeched from the blistering hot pain that leeched at them, Jimin attempting to duck from the fire that ploughed into their resting spot whilst he just stood there, instinctively shielding his face with his arms even though he knew that was fruitless against an intermediate explosion.

But the most scariest thing to him was that it didn't..hurt. The intense heat slithered at his skin once it reached him, but the fire passed his shoulders instead, bent over his head in one fiery airborne rainbow as if he'd shaped it to his will or something without even having the right mindset to control it at all.

He hadn't panicked either; his mind didn't stop working in shock like Jimin's or his heart hadn't lurched in sudden fright like Hoseok's or Amber's. He knew this was shocking, an attack from outside with the screams of people and crackling fire spreading across the village, and Taehyung-

His insides lurched at the name, tugging harshly at him to do something. An urgent thread pulling him towards the main thing that was making him worried, made him feel scared as much as he was weary for the rest of his companions in this tent with him right now, burning in pain except for him.

He wanted to run off and seek for the camaraderie, the one thing that held him in such a tight grip he felt the urgency, the need to go and find it and keep it safe from this dangerous, killing atmosphere.

He needed to protect Taehyung.

But first, he needed to get a grip on himself.

Before he knew it, he was lunging forward to grab Jimin, then finding himself in a flurry of picking up Hoseok and Amber, carrying all three figures in a haste to get them to safety. He hadn't figured out how strong he was until now, having a replica of a chill crawl down his spine at the slow realisation that this wasn't just any brute strength; this was abnormal even to himself who was wielding this power.

And the fire- no this was strange. it was so weird he couldn't wrap his mind around it. The fire that crackled and splintered and roiled all around them seemed to avoid their body instead of burning them alive; what was this?

What was this surge of energy that coursed through his veins? He felt so ecstatic, so stigmatic all the same, but why though? He's barely thinking and comprehending what was happening as of now, this death that gnawed at them, and yet he had a feeling that he knows what he's doing when he doesn't even have a plan.

It was his instincts: this hidden, locked away part of himself that kicked in to override his natural, humanly instincts of being able to register common sense.

He should be screaming, crying, dying, falling into a shrivelling ball of scorching flesh right now, should be choking on the heavy dark plumes of smoke curling inwards and outwards of their once-peaceful tent.