hydra | svt

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.

wonwoo

the fair is equally as busy on the last day as the first; we all troop past the entrance, this time with hansol in tow. i'd spent a good majority of the night awake, trying to gage hansol's reaction to being able to reconnect with someone who'd raised him like a little brother and cared for him like a parent. never one to be overly emotional, it's sometimes difficult to see how hansol reacts to things; that's not to say he doesn't feel emotions, he just shows them through his actions rather than through his facial expressions.

still, the rarity makes his genuine grin extra cute.

once again i'm greeted by the flashing lights and vivid colours, the overwhelming attack on all my senses does nothing to soothe my oncoming headache and the anxiety gnawing away at the bottom of my stomach like hot lava through rock. i shove my hands deeper into the pockets of my jacket as we near the stall, jealous of hansol's blissful unawareness; i'd yet to explain in full detail to the others what had happened only twenty-four hours beforehand, choosing to gloss over the more shocking details. to them, all i'd done was talked to joshua face-to-face.

even before we met up at orbit cafe, minghao was voicing his concerns about an unnerving feeling clawing at his back, melding to his skin like a parasite. he'd wondered if it was such a good idea to return as he "couldn't forget the look of horror" that'd been written all over my face when i'd stumbled out of the tent the first time; i had to assure him more than once that i was okay but i was starting to think the feeling was contagious as every step towards the fair made my nausea stronger.

now, he was unusually quiet as we cut across the yellow grass towards joshua's tent. he seems to be with a customer already so we hover patiently a few meters away, craning our necks every now and then to step in the second he became unoccupied.

time lurches to a stop. finally, his latest customer emerges from the purple velvet, looking like a stark contrast to the way i'd practically collapsed into the daylight. at the sight of them skipping away unfazed, mingyu and junhui give me a side-eye and i tighten my fist in the confines of the denim it was surrounded by.

"i think hansol should go instead." minghao's bold words grip my heart and i falter in the step i had gone to take. hansol looks equally surprised, his eyebrows almost disappearing under his beanie.

"me?"

"yes. don't you want to see joshua?" the direct question slices through hansol's feelings like butter and he nods stiffly. after a few more moments spent convincing him to go inside, hansol complies.

"you'll be fine." all i can offer is a weak smile and we send him off, watching tentatively from the sidelines until he's swallowed by the plush fabric.

"so...shall we go on a ride while we wait?" mingyu's eager tone almost makes me laugh but i shake my head slowly, telling him that we need to be here in case something happens.

"and you can't go off by yourself," i add before he can stop me, sensing the question bubbling at the tip of his tongue. mingyu sulks immediately and i roll my eyes at his childish response.

"hey guys...is it me or is the wind picking up a bit?"

the answer to junhui's question comes in the form of a gust of wind, whipping through our hair and prompting us to draw our outer layers tighter around our shivering forms. it doesn't seem to be dying down and i can see other people pause and stare up at the sky in bewilderment.

we barely have time to register the screams of the fellow fair-goers that have started to stream towards the exit in a panicked frenzy.

"wha-?" jun struggles to be heard over the gale force winds tearing through the stalls, snarling and growling like wild hounds deprived of meat. hansol and joshua do not reappear, despite the chaos and the calls for evacuation - all around us, the fair begins to fall apart.

just as quickly as the wind had shredded this normal day, the rain falls. at first, the drips are light and merely an inconvenience but they start to lash against the surface of my skin already littered with goosebumps.

it comes down like a sheet - i can barely see my friends standing a foot in front of me.

"we have to get hansol and go!" mingyu yells, although nothing is more obvious in that moment. we dash towards the tent, going against the extreme weather.

just as we pull back the velvet, a loud bellow rattles my eardrums and jun retracts a shivering hand, letting the curtain fall again.

"i've travelled far to meet you, seventeen!"

at first i'd been suspicious of the change in weather, especially to one so extreme. however, with the roar that one could describe as god-like, i know our lives were being threatened.

again.

"take cover!" i instruct, diving behind the counter of an abandoned stall, the contents having been swept up in the hurricane raging around us. my friends disperse to other nearby shelters and i fight the urge to cry out in pain when the wind picks up, slicing into me.

"where are your manners? i knew you humans stopped treating us gods with respect, but i never believed it! bow to me!"

the voice is crystalline amidst the gale like it was in the airflow itself; i couldn't escape it.

"i said bow!"

as the last syllable drops, so does the wind. it's only a slight change but it makes the world of difference. my field of vision stretches a little further but instead of the reds and yellows of the tents that had made up the funfair, i'm greeted by the sight of tan skin.

it's someone's foot.

the giant foot isn't on the grass at all, hovering over it on the strength of the wind current. it takes a lumbering step forward and i brace my self for the thunder of the stomp but it doesn't come: the sound is swallowed in a vacuum of air.

the owner of the foot becomes clearer now: i follow the bare honey skin up to the heavens, stopping momentarily on the feathery white wings that burst out of his ankle, the sight making me shiver. i continue up past the strong calf, past the hem of the cream tunic, until our enemy is revealed in all his glory.

his face, that of a young man in his twenties, is what one would call traditionally handsome. glowing blond locks have been swept back, revealing chiselled cheekbones and a strong set of features. his eyes are a piercing blue and swirl with clouds, almost hidden under flaxen brows arched in a permanent laugh. his skin is as clear as the sky after a thunderstorm and his mouth is twisted into a devilish smirk, one that hides plans of mischief and a row of pearly white teeth.

he wears nothing other than his greek tunic; it hangs loosely on his broad shoulder and stops before his sinewy arms. arms which hold a ten-foot-long silver caduceus staff: two winding snakes coiled around each other in a merry dance of venom, biting the tips of a majestic set of wings that glint even when there is no light. the snakes on this particular staff seemed to be alive as ever, hissing and lurching for one another.

i did not want to be in the way of that.